Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra

 

 

The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (GSO), also known as the National Orchestra of Sweden, will embark on their 2015 China tour on Friday at the Shanghai Symphony Hall, led by double Grammy-winning conductor Kent Nagano.

To commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Jean Sibelius, GSO will present Violin Concerto in D Minor by the great musician, who has played a significant role in forming Finnish musical identity.

Established in 1905, GSO has emerged among the world's best groups thanks to a string of outstanding conductors such as Wilhelm Stenhammar, Sixten Ehrling and Charles Dutoit.

It has toured the US, Europe and Japan, with the Guardian calling it "one of the world's most formidable orchestras."

Kent Nagano has been a guest conductor and music consultant for GSO since 2013. As well as the Sibelius piece, the orchestra will also be performing Symphony No.1 in C Minor by Johannes Brahms and Beast Sampler by contemporary Swedish composer Anders Hillborg.

Emerging Taiwanese violin virtuoso Ray Chen will be playing with the orchestra.

Date: Friday, 8 pm

Venue: Shanghai Symphony Hall

上海交响乐团音乐厅

Address: 1380 Fuxing Road Middle

复兴中路1380号

Tickets: 280 yuan ($45.64) to 1,080 yuan

Call 400-821-0522 for details

Saycet from France

 

 

Saycet is the project of Parisian musician and sound artist Pierre Lefeuvre, who experiments in electronic music that features charming melodies and captivating ambience.

Currently a composer in residence at Centre Pompidou in Paris, his inspirations include Boards of Canada and Múm.

He has to date released three full-length albums under the name Saycet.

With its appearing and vanishing vocal samples, his music has been described as an invitation to daydream. His first album, One Day at Home, features nine atmospheric tracks depicting distinctive fairy tales for adults; the second Through The Window saw him collaborating with vocalist and lyricist Phoene Somsavath, who added delicate and drifting sound to Lefeuvre's introspective world.

Taking inspiration from his trip to Russia, Europe and Asia, the third album Mirage was released in February, wrapping up all he experienced - cities, architecture, rivers, sunshine - in the touching melodies. His music is a combination of sensitivity in melody and rationality that shines in his precision and control of sounds. Some critics have compared him to Grammy-nominated French band M83.

Lefeuvre will be performing at On Stage next Friday, joined by vocalist Phoene Somsavath and VJ Zita Cochet.

Date: April 17, 8:30 pm

Venue: On Stage

Address: Room 101, Bldg A2, 570 Huaihai Road West 淮海西路570号A2幢101室

Tickets: 80 yuan for presale and 100 yuan on the door

Call 6212-6991 for details

Sleepmakeswaves

Photos: Courtesy of the venues

 

Australian instrumental rock band Sleepmakeswaves is on its first China tour this month. Shanghai is the fourth stop on April 18, ahead of Wuhan, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

The four-piece band features Otto Wicks-Green and Jonathan Khor on guitars, Alex Wilson on bass and synth, and Tim Adderley on drums. The band got together in 2006 and has completed eight Australian tours, three European tours and one tour to the US since releasing their first studio album

… And So We Destroyed Everything in 2011.

Their music draws on the different influences of each band member, encompassing punk rock, dance music, prog, black metal and post-rock to name a few. Meanwhile, they claim to share a common interest in "love songs about delay pedals." Their second album, Love of Cartography, released last July, continues the band's style of integrating dreamlike calmness and exhilarating crescendos and has been nominated at the Australian Record Industry Association Awards.

"We want the chill-out ambient sections to slow your sense of time and the loud climaxes to reverberate in your whole body and leave you feeling both exhausted and euphoric, if we can achieve even half of that then I think we're doing OK," Wilson said in a previous interview.

Date: April 18, 9 pm

Venue: Mao Livehouse

Address: 3/F, 308 Chongqing Road South 重庆南路308号3楼

Tickets: 80 yuan for presale and 120 yuan on the door

Call 6445-0086 for details