Registration 5:15pm
Performance 5:30pm
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The Philadelphia Orchestra serves as a cultural bridge between the United States and China, fostering meaningful people-to-people exchange through music. Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin will lead the 2019 China tour, bringing the “Philadelphia Sound” to China with Shanghai-born pianist Haochen Zhang as soloist. The 2019 visit will mark the Orchestra’s 12th tour of China—the most of any American orchestra—and will coincide with 40 years of official U.S.-China diplomatic relations. Partnered with Philadelphia Orchestra’s Official Legal Partner in China, Morgan Lewis, Asia Society Hong Kong Center proudly presents the Philadelphia Orchestra Woodwind Quintet in the Sunday afternoon of May 19. The program will be an hour music journey that presents 5 different classical music pieces, bringing you the beautiful “Philadelphia Sound” into the wonderful premiese of the center.

Patrick Williams was appointed associate principal flute of The Philadelphia Orchestra in 2018 by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He was previously principal flute of the Louisiana Philharmonic and co-principal flute of the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra in Nishinomiya, Japan. He has also performed in such ensembles as the Chicago Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Columbus Symphony, the Fort Worth Symphony, the Princeton Symphony, and the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra in Sapporo, Japan.

Before joining The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1986, Jonathan Blumenfeld was principal oboe with the Savannah Symphony from 1981 to 1984 and played with the Concerto Soloists (now the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia) from 1984 to 1986. He also participated in the Tanglewood, Blossom, and Spoleto festivals. A native of New York  City, Mr. Blumenfeld is a graduate of Haverford College and the Curtis Institute of Music, where he was a student of former Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Oboe John de Lancie.

A native of Mexico, Socrates Villegas joined The Philadelphia Orchestra as second clarinet with the 2016-17 season. Prior to this, he served as principal clarinet with the Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería, both in Mexico City. He has held clarinet positions with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Toluca (both in Mexico), and the Orchestre de la Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris.

Angela Anderson Smith has been a member of The Philadelphia Orchestra since 1997. Her previous orchestra memberships include the San Jose Symphony, where she served as second bassoon, and the San Antonio Symphony, where she was assistant principal/second bassoon. She frequently performs in the Philadelphia Orchestra Chamber Music Series, and she is a member of the Network for New Music and the Conwell Woodwind Quintet, an ensemble made up of Temple University faculty members.

Mexican-born hornist Ernesto Tovar Torres is the newly appointed fourth horn of The Philadelphia Orchestra and has established himself as an orchestral and chamber musician from an early age. He served as second horn for the Atlanta Symphony for two seasons, from 2015 to 2017. He has also performed with the Dallas Symphony, the Naples Philharmonic, the Bellingham Festival Orchestra (WA), the Grand Rapids Symphony, the Tulsa Symphony, and the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas.

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