The Free Library of Philadelphia’s Fleisher Collection will gift three rare musical scores to the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. Here’s why. 

The Edwin A. Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music has announced the donation of three complete performance sets by Russian-born Chinese national composer Aaron Avshalomov to the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. The works include “Concerto for Violin in D,” “Symphony No. 2,” and “Hutungs of Peking.” This collaboration aims to honor Avshalomov’s significant cultural contributions to China.

About the compositions 

Written in the 1930s, these compositions were part of the Fleisher Collection through the Work Progress Administration Federal Music Project in the 1940s. The extensive scores include approximately 400 pages and over 150 orchestral parts. Dr. Gary Galván, Music Special Collections Curator, along with his team, digitized and restored these archival materials to make them stage-ready. Coordination with David Avshalomov, Aaron’s grandson, secured permissions for the gift.

The Fleisher Collection’s donation is a gesture of respect and appreciation for Avshalomov’s impact on Chinese classical music.

Avshalomov, displaced by the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, became a prominent music educator in Shanghai, influencing a generation of nationalist composers between 1918 and 1947. David Avshalomov is set to conduct his grandfather’s work at a concert on September 12, 2024, which will be featured in an episode of the “Fleisher Discoveries” podcast.

Further collaboration includes Dr. Galván working with the Shanghai Conservatory of Music to provide copies of six orchestral scores from the Fleisher Collection that are not available in China, including “The Great Wall” opera.

This initiative underscores the ongoing cultural exchange and the Fleisher Collection’s commitment to preserving and sharing global musical heritage.