When the jet-lagged members of the Penn Symphony Orchestra were waved through Beijing customs in a matter of minutes, they suspected something was out of the ordinary.
But it wasn't until they met the hordes of Chinese paparazzi and VIPs waiting outside the gate that their suspicions were confirmed.
This summer, 73 Penn musicians spent 10 days in Beijing and Hong Kong playing three concert dates -- right alongside renowned Beijing Opera vocalist Sun Ping.
The orchestra, along with several Chinese musicians, accompanied Ping, who traveled to Philadelphia last April to perform with the orchestra.
After working with the Penn group, Ping reciprocated by having the orchestra perform with her this summer. The innovative program and the fame of the Chinese opera star drew attention to the group both at Penn and in China.
The Penn students and staff worked with Chinese musicians to create an unusual performance that fused traditional and modern conventions.
"We decided, since we were going to China, to perform Chinese opera with our orchestra," explained Ricardo Averbach, the group's conductor. "To perform traditional Peking opera with a Western orchestra is something extremely new. We're the first orchestra in the Western world to do that."
"The national television of China was waiting for us at the airport," Averbach said. "They made a special about the Penn orchestra that was broadcast on national television there. Of course, in China that means it was watched by millions and millions."
The symphony also received support from Penn administrators -- University President Judith Rodin, for one, attended the concert in Hong Kong -- and from the Chinese Cultural Council, which led the group on several days of sightseeing. Additionally, the local government provided, in some cases, excessive protection for the Penn students and staff.
On May 28, the group performed its second show as part of a Beijing event called the Watermelon Festival -- a very memorable experience for some members of the orchestra.
"As we were being escorted to the concert, cops lined the streets and parted the way for us," said Orchestra President Suyash Paliwal, a Wharton senior. "It gave us sort of a taste of their imperial society."
The orchestra also received the assistance of Yang Jiechi, the Chinese ambassador to the United States, who attended the group's concert last fall and subsequently introduced them to Ping.
But the idea of a cultural exchange had been in the works at Penn for several months, with the concept originally proposed by former Penn orchestra vice president Anthony Tse, a 2001 College graduate. Tse had previously performed with the university orchestra at Tsing-Hua University in China.
However, orchestra members still had to adapt to the style of Beijing Opera, which is considered one the nation's highest forms of performing arts.
The Chinese opera includes martial arts, acting, music and song, as well as traditional sets, costumes and caricatured stock characters that diverge entirely from Western tradition.
The musical conventions of Chinese opera also differ from what Americans are used to both in their rhythms and impromptu style.
"Structurally, the way that they play music is by ear for the most part," Paliwal said. "Reading off the sheet music we had to do a lot of interpretation."
To add authenticity, Penn's orchestra members were augmented by two Chinese performers. The musicians --neither of whom spoke English -- played the Pipa, the equivalent of a violin, and the JingAu, which is comparable to a mandolin.
