China Début

Dutch based Australian conductor Simon Murphy will make his début in China this November. At the invitation of the Chinese and Dutch governments, Murphy will perform in Beijing on November 20 at the official celebration of the anniversary of the 40 year bilateral relationship between the Netherlands and the People's Republic of China, also conducting orchestras in Hangzhou and Shenzhen during the visit.

Hand-crafted Concert Programmes

Murphy will perform a number of hand-crafted orchestral programmes featuring a selection of Dutch 18^th century symphonies, including music which he has recently rediscovered and recorded for Dutch label PentaTone Classics. Completing the concert programmes will be classic repertoire including Beethoven's Symphony no. 2, Gade's concert overture Echoes of Ossian, Rossini's Barber of Seville  overture, and Haydn's cello concerto in C together with the Dutch based American concert cellist Caroline Kang (New York, 1980) as soloist.

Murphy has also been invited to give masterclasses and lectures at the Academy of Performing Arts (Hong Kong) and the Central Conservatory (Beijing) on repertoire, interpretation and historical performance practice.

Murphy (Sydney, 1973) is chief-conductor of The Hague's Baroque orchestra, The New Dutch Academy. The conductor and orchestra are celebrating their 10 year jubilee together this season with the orchestra's festive programming including symphonic, Baroque and chamber concert series as well as its educational, community art and outreach programmes.

During Murphy's tour in China this November, the city of The Hague's Vice-Mayor Henk Kool will host two of the conductor's performances, with the cultural activities aiming to consolidate on established diplomatic and economic relationships between The Hague and several Chinese cities.

International Cultural Ambassador

Conductor Murphy is highly experienced in the area of cultural diplomacy. He has worked regularly for Dutch local and national government on major bilateral celebrations over the past decade. In 2004 he programmed and conducted the music for Her Majesty Queen Beatrix's state visit to Italy during the Netherlands' presidency of the EU with performances of Dutch and Italian Baroque music in Rome broadcast live on Italian radio and TV. In 2006, he programmed the musical celebrations for the 400 year anniversary of relations between Australia and the Netherlands with festival events in both countries. In 2009, he programmed and performed the Dutch contribution to the cultural olympiad in Vancouver, and for the bilateral Dutch / U.S. celebrations of “Hudson 400” he created and performed a special presentation of recently rediscovered 17th and 18th century music from the Netherlands in New York.

Alongside appearances in China, Murphy's other upcoming international conducting highlights include Bach's B Minor Mass with the State Choir of Latvia in Riga in December 2012 and programmes of classical symphonies and Handel's The Water Music with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in Australia in May 2013. In the Netherlands, he will conduct the New Dutch Academy's jubilee symphonic programmes Heaven on Earth with Schmitt's Symphonie Pastorale and Spohr's Symphony no. 2, and Ein Heldenleben with Romberg's overture to Ulysses and Beethoven's Symphony no. 3 Eroica in The Hague in February and April 2013.

More info: www.simonmurphyconductor.com