This year the Band of the People’s Liberation Army of China is returning to the cobblestones of Moscow’s Red Square. After its successful performance back in 2015, the group is once again ready to strike the audiences of the Twelfth Spasskaya Tower International Military Music Festival.
The organizers are already aware of the band’s show program and are ready to unveil it. Hence, military musicians will perform the Fleet’s March, Aram Khachaturian’s Sabre Dance, Dark Eyes, the world’s famous Russian romance song, and Dunaevskiy’s Zazdravnay, a Russian holiday toast song.
Throughout its long history the Band of the People’s Liberation Army has been the leading ceremonial music ensemble of China, a reference for all other military music groups of the country. The band has the honorable duty of covering all major state events featuring official ceremonies of meeting heads of states, governments and armed forces.
Thus, the band has been part of more than seven thousand important state, cultural and sports events, including the National People’s Congresses, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conferences, the celebrations dedicated to the sovereignty restoration of China over Hong Kong and Macao, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and 2010 Shanghai Expo.
The group continuously tours around the country performing for the Chinese Armed Forces. It has staged more than six thousand concerts so far. On top of this, the band successfully represents China abroad. It has already performed for the audiences in Russia, Kazakhstan, DPR of Korea, Vietnam, France, Germany, Great Britain, the USA, etc.
For Information
The Band of the People’s Liberation Army was established in 1947. Since 1952 their headquarters has been in Beijing. The group features a symphonic band, a wind band, a music studio and a group of wind music instructors. The band reports to the Chief Political Department of the Military Council of the Central Committee of the CPC.
Senior Colonel Zhang Haifeng is the head and general conductor of the band. His record includes the first place at the Interludes International Conductors Contest, winning the Golden Conductor Baton Cup as well as leading the military band at the 2015 Parade on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
Senior Colonel Liu Xinbo is the conductor of the band. He is the graduate of the People’s Liberation Army Academy of Art where he studied military conducting as well as of the College of Arts of Beijing University.