How will you be ringing in the new year? Besides Bravissimo and Salute to Vienna, Li Delun Music Foundation’s East Meets West New Year’s Concert is a cherished artistic and cultural Toronto tradition that you should not miss.
Li Delun Music Foundation
Maestro Li Delun (1917 – 2001) was the founding conductor of the first professional symphony orchestra of the People’s Republic of China, and he devoted his life to promoting classical music in communist China. One of his most famous collaborations was with renowned violinist Isaac Stern, the first American musician invited to play with the China Central Symphony Society (now the China National Symphony Orchestra). This venture was captured in the 1979 documentary From Mao to Mozart, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
In 1981, the Maestro became the first Chinese conductor to lead the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in a performance that featured Peter Oundjian (who later became TSO’s music director) as the violin soloist.
Shortly after the Maestro’s death in 2001, musicians of Toronto’s Chinese community came together to perform in a concert as a tribute to his legacy. This endeavour grew into a yearly tradition, and a foundation in his name was established by his family.
Besides the New Year concert being the Foundation’s main event of the year, it also hosts master classes, piano recitals and fundraising galas.
LV spoke with composer/pianist/magician Kemin Zhang and cellist Rosalind Zhang, grandchildren of Maestro Li Delun, and executive directors of the Foundation about the upcoming New Year Concert.
East Meets West New Year’s Concert
This is the 19th edition of the almost annual tradition, the mission of which is to showcase cultural harmony through music, while introducing the richness of Chinese musical heritage to the world. Each year, the concert features a fresh roster of local and international talents.
According to Rosalind, these concerts not only provide a platform for emerging artists to perform, but also showcase established international artists who are not well-known in Canada on the Toronto stage. She describes the Toronto Festival Orchestra that plays at this concert as a truly musicians’ orchestra.
“Our organization is a family affair, with many family members and friends playing alongside each other in the orchestra,” notes Rosalind. The group reflects the cultural mosaic of our country. At last year’s concert, members of the orchestra offered new year greetings in 13 different languages. “We want to show our diversity and how music really brings us together.”
The Program
The full program includes:
PROGRAM — East-Meets-West New Year’s Concert 2026
中西匯粹新年音乐会
Presented by the Li Delun Music Foundation
Featuring the Toronto Festival Orchestra
Conductor: Yongyan Hu
Concertmaster: Qing Li
Host: Kemin Zhang 张科民
I. Opening Works
Saibei Dance — 塞北舞曲
An-Lun Huang 黄安伦
II. Pipa Concerto (Ancient Music)
Includes “King Chu Doffs His Armour —《霸王卸甲》”
Zhou Long 周龙
Pipa Soloist: Qiu Jiayu 邱佳裕 (Young emerging artist from China, highly recommended by the dean of China Conservatory)
A dramatic retelling of the final moments of Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Chu, through the expressive power of the pipa.
III. Erhu Feature: “Horse Racing” —《赛马》
Huang Haihuai 黄海怀
Arrangements by Chen Yaoxing 陈耀星, Chen Jun 陈军
Orchestration by Yang Chunlin 杨春林
Erhu Soloist: Snow Bai 白雪
IV. Sabre Dance —《马刀舞曲》
Aram Khachaturian 阿拉姆·哈恰杜良
V. Yellow River Piano Concerto —《黄河钢琴协奏曲》
Movement IV: “Defend the Yellow River” — 保卫黄河
By Yin Chengzong 殷承宗, Chu Wanghua 储望华, Liu Zhuang 刘庄, Sheng Lihong 盛礼洪,
Shi Shucheng 石叔诚, Xu Feixing 许斐星
Based on Xian Xinghai’s 冼星海 Yellow River Cantata
Piano Soloist: Eric Guo 郭嘉骏
Intermission
VI. Chrysanthemum Terrace —《菊花台》
From the film Curse of the Golden Flower 《满城尽带黄金甲》
Jay Chou 周杰伦, arr. Eric Guo 郭嘉骏
Featuring: Erhu: Snow Bai 白雪; Guzheng: Lina Cao 曹丽娜; Cello: Rosalind Zhang 张韞斯; Piano: Eric Guo 郭嘉骏
VII. Tales from the Vienna Woods —《维也纳森林的故事》
Waltz, Op. 325, Johann Strauss II
VIII. Baritone Spotlight
a) Ode to the Yellow River —《黄河颂》
Xian Xinghai 冼星海 — Text by Guang Weiran 光未然 (whose son Ange Zhang, an artist whose paintings about the piece will be one display at the concert on the second floor promenade.)
b) Largo al factotum —《快给忙人让路》
From The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini
Baritone Soloist: Feng Zhang 张峰
IX. Symphony No. 7 “Leningrad” —《列宁格勒交响曲》
Movement IV: Allegro non troppo
Dmitri Shostakovich
As its name suggests, the program is a mix of both Eastern and Western music. The concert will open with “Saibei Dance,” written by Markham-based Chinese Canadian composer An-Lun Huang. As a nod to the Viennese new year concert tradition, several pieces by Johann Strauss II will be featured alongside those played on Chinese instruments, like the Pipa Concerto and “Horse Racing” on the erhu. The latter celebrates the upcoming Year of the Horse, and is complemented by the electrifying tempo of Aram Khachaturian’s “Sabre Dance.” There will also be a cinematic piece specially arranged for a mixed ensemble of piano, cello, erhu and guzheng.
Another theme of this concert is to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. The orchestra will perform the fourth movement of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 with a double brass section, “a piece that resonates with anti-fascism,” according to Kemin.
The Yellow River Cantata and Piano Concerto
The World War II theme continues with The Yellow River Piano Concerto, arguably the most famous Chinese piano work heard in the Western world. Kemin explains the piece’s historical background, its anti-war meaning as well as its special personal connection to the Li Delun family.
The Yellow River Piano Concerto as we know it today actually originated from The Yellow River Cantata, composed by Xian Xinghai in 1939 during the Second Sino-Japanese War, as a symbol of Chinese defiance against the Japanese invaders. The lyrics were adapted from a patriotic poem by Guang Weiran.
During the Cultural Revolution, the lyrics of the cantata were deemed too political. The cantata was banned from performance, but was later authorized to be rearranged into a piano concerto. Its 1970 premiere by pianist Yin Chengzong was conducted by none other than Li Delun.
There have been numerous iterations of this concerto ever since, but audiences will be hearing the original version played at its premiere, courtesy of a score provided by Yin, now based in New York. Just like in the original arrangement, there will be added parts played on the pipa and the suona, a Chinese woodwind instrument which, as Kemin describes, “plays like an oboe, but looks like a trumpet.”
An excerpt of the concerto will be brought to life by the talented young Canadian pianist Eric Guo, First Prize winner of the 2023 International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments.
Kemin says that this concert is extra special because the audience will hear both the Yellow River Piano Concerto and Cantata, which are rarely performed together in the same concert. Singing the “Ode to the Yellow River” will be Zhang Feng, a respected baritone from China, who will also perform an aria from the Rossini’s opera The Barber of Seville.
The spectacle doesn’t end there. To accompany the commemorative program, the Foundation will host a Yellow River Art Exhibition on the second floor of the concert hall, featuring eight paintings by Toronto-based artist Zhang Ango, son of Guang, the poet who inspired the lyrics of the Yellow River Cantata.
Conductor Yongyan Hu from China will be helming this year’s concert, with Qing Li (Principal Second Violin of Baltimore Symphony Orchestra) serving as concertmaster.
As per tradition, returning concert host Kemin will have a few magic tricks up his sleeve, along with more surprises to accompany this spectacular and diverse program. It promises to delight audiences of all ages and cultural backgrounds.
The Concert
Li Delun Music Foundation Presents East Meets West New Year’s Concert on January 4, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. at the George Weston Recital Hall, Meridian Arts Centre.
- LV readers can enjoy a 10% discount with code “LUDWIG”
- Find show details and tickets [HERE].
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