Moving on to May, we get ready for three tours in Asia: first up is a five-concert tour in China with Pacific Symphony, under the baton of Carl St.Clair and soloist Pinchas Zukerman, including Shanghai and Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts.  

At the same time, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra returns to Japan after three years with conductor Vasily Petrenko and soloist Nobuyuki Tsujii. The tour includes performances in Osaka Festival Hall, and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall and Orchard Hall.  

We finish May, with a thirteen-concert tour of The King’s Singers, celebrating their 50^th anniversary with concerts across Korea, China and Japan. Highlights include performances in Seoul Lotte Hall, Guangzhou, Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre and Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, as well as eight concerts for the Japanese audience in Osaka, Nagoya, Tokyo, Kawasaki and Fukui. 

September starts with a special concert series commemorating 150 years of diplomatic relations between Sweden and Japan with three consecutive concerts in Tokyo’s Suntory Hall with Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Sakari Oramo conducts all three concerts; highlights include Nobuyuki Tsujii in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.5, followed by Beethoven’s Symphony No.5 and Mahler’s Symphony No.1, and concludes the celebrations with a gala concert including works by Swedish composers, ending with Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 and Camilla Tilling.

But the year is not over yet! We spend three weeks in Japan, on a thirteen-concert tour with Iceland Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Conductor Laureate Vladimir Ashkenazy, together with soloist Nobuyuki Tsujii. 

December sees us packing up again for Japan and Korea, this time with The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, conductor Paavo Järvi and soloist Hilary Hahn.

However, even at the end of the year we cannot forget China, so we finish our touring year just before Christmas with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, under the baton of Xian Zhang in Beijing.