Chief Conductor David Robertson will head a seven-city Chinese musical odyssey in June.

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra will embark on a seven city tour of China from June 22 to July 6 this year. The announcement will be made by Sydney Symphony Orchestra Managing Director Rory Jeffes today at a gala lunch in Shanghai as part of Tony Abbott’s trade mission to China. The visit will be the orchestra’s first significant overseas tour since the cancelled Ashkenazy-led Russian plan for last year.

Chief Conductor David Robertson will lead the tour, which will visit Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Jinan, Hangzhou and Xi’an. The substantial musical odyssey will see 96 musicians from the orchestra performing in what many consider to be among the most sophisticated and imaginative concert halls in the world including the iconic National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing (which is commonly referred to as ‘the egg’).

Surprisingly the tour will be Robesrtson’s first visit to mainland China. “This will be a tour of firsts for me – my first time to mainland China and my first tour with the SSO as their Chief Conductor,” he said. “I can’t wait to immerse myself in Chinese culture with...