In 1908 the Orchestra of the Russian Trans-Amur Railway Corps Brigade played Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” in Harbin, an occasion considered the first symphony concert in the history of China. This orchestra, which later became the Chinese Eastern Railway Club Symphony Orchestra, was also the first one of its kind in China. With most musicians coming from Russia, it was the predecessor of today’s Harbin Symphony Orchestra. In 2009 the Harbin Symphony Orchestra followed a delegation from the municipal government as friendship envoy representing 10.64 million Harbin citizens and visited Aarhus, Denmark, the Vienna Musikverein, the Athens Megaron, Russia and Japan. In 2016 more than a hundred members of the Harbin Symphony and the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra performed a concert in the Geneva Palace of Nations during the UN Peace Talks. Since 2011 the Harbin Symphony Orchestra, Harbin Music Hall and Chamber Orchestra are run as one entity, ensuring high-quality artistic and operational planning. The recently renewed influx of Russian musicians has enhanced the internationalization of the orchestra and brought local colleagues authentic insights into the Russian repertoire.
