Philadelphia Orchestra Completes Pearl River Delta Residency Week with Commendation to Ambassador

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 12, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- At the conclusion of its Pearl River Delta Residency Week in China, The Philadelphia Orchestra presented Ambassador Nicholas Platt with a plaque for his assistance in guiding the Orchestra's U.S. China Cultural Exchange programs. 

Ambassador Platt was given the plaque following his lecture, "Connecting Nations, Bridging Understanding: the Importance of Food and Cultural Diplomacy." He delivered the talk in Hong Kong as part of the Asia Society Ambassador Burton Levin Lecture Series and was joined at the presentation by his sons, acclaimed actor Oliver Platt, and Adam Platt, the food critic for New York magazine.

The presentation was the last event of the Orchestra's recent Residency, which included concerts, master classes, side-by-side rehearsals, and community performances in Macao, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong. The Residency's focus was on sharing music and the people-to-people exchanges that occur as a result of these encounters.

The Residency was the latest in a series of cultural bridge building that has taken place since 1973, when President Nixon asked the Orchestra to become the first U.S. orchestra to perform in China. Ambassador Platt was instrumental in arranging that diplomatic breakthrough tour.

Musical accompaniment at the program was by Lio Kuokman, the Orchestra's Macao-born assistant conductor.

In July, the Orchestra and Chinese officials announced at the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Washington a series of events to mark the 35th anniversary of relations between the United States and China. 

In September, led by Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Orchestra musicians performed on the occasion of the 69th Session of the UN General Assembly at the invitation of the Global Sustainable Development Foundation. The musicians gave the U.S. premiere of Ode to Humanity, composed by Wang Ning, which pays tribute to 2,000 years of Confucianism and expresses the core values of Chinese human civilization through music. During the recent Residency, Philadelphia Orchestra musicians joined with members of the Shenzhen and Macao orchestras and choristers in a performance of Ode to Humanity at the Venetian^® Macao's Venetian Theatre in China.

The Orchestra's deepening cultural exchanges with China were further demonstrated in November when it presented the National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra in Philadelphia and arranged community activities for its musicians.  

The Orchestra's Pearl River Delta Residency Week was the culminating program.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150212/175230

SOURCE The Philadelphia Orchestra