Picture and video: Tony Öhberg for Finland Today
On Monday evening beautiful Chinese melodies took over the Finlandia Hall in Helsinki.
The key musicians, conductor Lu Jia and violinist Mengla Huang, played a touching concert together with the Finnish Turku Philharmonic Orchestra to a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd, to a hall with not many empty seats left.
Conductor Lu Jia said that he had visited Finland many years ago, but would like to see many more visits in the future because music is “a global culture and a way that helps us to understand each other.”
Both Lu Jia and Mengla Huang praised the skills of the Finnish symphony orchestra players. Lu Jia would be happy to invite Finnish musicians to visit China.
Mengla Huang, born in 1980, is one of the most active violinists in the world. At the age of 22, he won the prestigious 49th Paganini International Violin Competition. Lu Jia is known as a “maestro” in the world of classical music. His soul-touching interpretation of symphonies and operas over the decades have earned him the title.
The highlight of the evening was undoubtedly “The Butterfly Lovers” violin concerto, which Mengla Huang said that he had “played many times” and was now “honored to bring the piece to Helsinki.”
View the highlights of the concert in our video.
Great Thanks to:
Promoter and Organizer: Masterpiece Music
Supporter: Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Republic of Finland
Co-Organizer: Finland-China Artists Association
Sponsors: Furuma Cuisine; Ravintola Brokadi Tripla, Home Taste
