Central Music Academy Orchestra of Plucked Instruments - Tug at China's Heartstrings

Among the groups of instruments which make up this colorful and versatile orchestra you will hear several varieties of the pipa (Chinese lute), the qin (a fretless Chinese board zither) and the sanxian (a three-string fretless "banjo"), the liu qin (Chinese mandolin) and of course the inimitable Chinese percussion. Together these conservatory-trained musicians deliver a wide variety of timbres, and in a surprising twist, they finish the program with two Russian encores: "The Moscow Nights" and Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance."