Vasily Petrenko & Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai 2026

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra comes to Shanghai in November for a single night at the SHOAC Concert Hall. Thomas Beecham founded the orchestra in 1946, which makes 2026 its eightieth year, and this date belongs to the anniversary season. Vasily Petrenko has been Music Director since 2021, after fifteen years at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. Three works — one English, one Chinese, one Russian. It opens with Butterworth's A Shropshire Lad of 1912, after Housman's cycle of poems; almost everything Butterworth wrote dates from 1911 to 1914, and he was killed on the Somme in 1916 at thirty-one. Then Tan Dun's Wolf Totem of 2014, a twenty-minute concerto for double bass written after he read Jiang Rong's novel. Five orchestras co-commissioned it, among them the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic — Petrenko's own orchestra at the time — and Tan Dun wrote it so that each commissioning orchestra's principal bass would play it. Hence the soloist here: the RPO's own principal, Jason Henery. After the interval, Stravinsky's Petrushka in the 1947 version. On the presenter's published programme the third item reads as the ballet in Chinese and as the suite in English. The two have not been reconciled, so we list it as published. Neither the running time nor whether there is an interval has been stated.

1. 01

   Butterworth 巴特沃斯 (1885–1916)

   A Shropshire Lad, Rhapsody

   《什罗普郡少年》狂想曲

2. 02

   Tan Dun 谭盾 (1957–)

   Contrabass Concerto: Wolf Totem

   《狼图腾》低音提琴协奏曲

   ~20 min

   Jason Henery, double bass

3. 03

   Stravinsky 斯特拉文斯基 (1882–1971)

   Petrushka

   《彼得鲁什卡》

   1947 version. The presenter's published programme says the ballet in Chinese and the suite in English, and has not said which is meant.

Conductor

Vasily Petrenko

Orchestra

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Soloist, Double Bass

Jason Henery

On sale since 14:00 on 28 August 2026. Six price bands — 280, 480, 680, 880, 1080 and 1280 yuan — all sold at face value. Limit six tickets per order, admission is by real name, and seats can be chosen online. Children under 1.2 m are not admitted; children over 1.2 m need a ticket of their own.

• Limit 6 tickets per order
• Name-registered ticket and entry
• Children under 1.2 m are not admitted; children over 1.2 m need a ticket of their own.

• Permit no. 沪文旅许[2026]4718号granted

  Issued by the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism · issued Aug 26 · 上海东方艺术中心管理有限公司

• Permit no. 沪文旅许[2026]5353号amended

  Issued by the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism · issued Sep 23 · 上海东方艺术中心管理有限公司