Yu Long, artistic director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, speaks at a rehearsal on Saturday. Photo: Courtesy of Shanghai Symphony Orchestra

The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, one of China's prominent orchestras, has commissioned a series of musical works from four composers to mark the upcoming 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC). 

The four pieces - Yu Yang's Ode to China, Yang Fan's Our Fathers, Jia Daqun's Waves of Emotions and Hao Weiya's Believe in Future - were rehearsed for the very first time by the orchestra under the baton of conductor Zhang Jiemin on Saturday. 

Commissioned at the idea of the orchestra's artistic director Yu Long, the complete works will be staged as a part of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra's 2021 New Year Concert.  

Yu noted at a seminar before the rehearsal that the CPC was founded in Shanghai in 1921 and that it is meaningful to mark the event and commemorate it through these four musical pieces how the Party chased its dreams and stood by its beliefs in the past 100 years. 

Each born in a different decade from the 1950s to 1980s, the four composers have witnessed the achievements of the CPC with their own eyes. 

Talking about the inspiration behind the works, Zhou Ping, president of the orchestra, said that the orchestra has long been thinking about how to best present the key milestones in China's decades of development through artistic and musical performances such as the upcoming commissioned pieces.