Beijing was the destination of the tour Claudio Abbado and the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA in September 2009. The new National Centre for the Performance Arts (NCPA), which opened its doors in December 2007, was hosting no fewer than six concerts by these sterling musicians. The whole event was destined to promote Lucerne further to the chinese market and IMI was of course one of the partners (see in the press). See more details and images here (d)

Star conductor Claudio Abbado was taking his Lucerne Festival Orchestra to Beijing, for what a very popular series of concerts.
It is the first time that the renowned orchestra has played in China, a country in which classical music is hitting a popularity high note.

The six-day residency at Beijing's new National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) began on Sunday September 20.

It was a busy visit which was sold out every evening, with four symphony and several chamber concerts. The soloists was the young Chinese pianist Yuja Wang, who wowed audiences at this year's Lucerne Summer Festival, and the acclaimed Swiss soprano Rachel Harnisch.

"It's the biggest residency that has ever taken place in Beijing and the first time that an orchestra is having such an intense residency [there]," Lucerne festival director Michael Haefliger told ahead of the visit.