The same orchestra, the same program, the same venue. Only that the first and latest performances were 35 years apart.

U.S. conductor Chiristoph Eschenbach hugs Chinese pianist Lang Lang after the performance last night. (Photo: China Daily)

The Philadelphia Orchestra played to a full house at the Cultural Palace of Nationalities yesterday to mark the 35th anniversary of its first visit to Beijing in September 1973.

Orchestra music director Christoph Eschenbach collaborated with Chinese pianist Lang Lang to present the Yellow River Concerto and then move on to Beethoven's Symphony No 6 (Pastoral), drawing a standing ovation from the audience.

This time, the orchestra will donate the proceeds to the Sichuan earthquake victims.

In a letter to mark the occasion, former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger wrote: "Such historic moments deserve to be commemorated."

Before the concert, Li Zhaoxing, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress, said: "China and the U.S. both must have had great foresight to organize the tour in 1973. The Philadelphia Orchestra brought not only the music, but also the love of the American people to their Chinese counterparts, and they took back with them Chinese people's friendship. What they left was the dream and determination to build a beautiful and promising future between the two countries."

The program "was a resounding success", Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said after the concert. "They touched our heart with music."

Among the audience were some of the key figures that made the orchestra's historic trip possible 35 years ago. It was the first U.S. cultural program in New China.

They exchanged anecdotes on how Eugene Ormandy, then the music director, agreed at the last minute to direct his orchestra to play the Pastoral, a work he'd repeatedly rejected during the negotiations for the tour programs. The orchestra had to borrow the scores from their Chinese colleagues with different markings.

The Pastoral portrays 35 years of Sino-U.S. ties most vividly, said Tang Wensheng, the main interpreter for many important meetings between Chairman Mao Zedong, premier Zhou Enlai and former U.S. president Richard Nixon.

"Sino-US relations have seen sunny as well as stormy times. But they are moving forward toward a brighter future," Tang said.

Tang was one of the veteran Chinese and U.S. officials, who according to former U.S. secretary of state Alexander Haig, have toiled for brighter Sino-U.S. ties.

Bilateral ties may have been on "the rough seas" once, but Haig believed it is now the most important relation in the history of mankind. "Peace and stability is the centerpiece of our relationship," Haig said yesterday.

"I feel proud to be the one to follow in the footsteps of maestro Ormandy to bring Chinese people friendship and great music," conductor Eschenbach said.

"I hope we can give you sufficiently the pleasant music as a sign of love and peace made 35 years ago and demonstrate the peace that music can bring."

Anna Chennault (Chen Xiangmei) said during the break yesterday: "I attended the concert in 1973 too. It was so exciting to hear Western music live in China then. But 35 years and many dramatic changes later, music remains the same, and now we have wonderful music virtuosos such as Lang Lang."

Some members of the China Central Philharmonic Society who performed under Ormandy's baton in 1973 were also present in the audience yesterday. "We are old now, not the music," said Liu Qi, principal bassoon player of the Central Philharmonic Society in 1973.

"When Ormandy conducted us, I was young and nervous. I have so many interesting stories to tell that even two days are not enough to finish them. I also made many friends with some members of the Philadelphia Orchestra."

Nine of Liu's old friends are back in Beijing on this trip. Though most of them could not even recognize the Cultural Palace of Nationalities, they remembered many details of that historic trip when they saw the photographs the organizers had put up on a lobby wall, the backstage and the dressing room.

(China Daily June 3, 2008)