In recent years, several Australian symphony orchestras have mounted concerts to celebrate Chinese New Year. This year, in its ninth such celebration, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has ushered in the Year of the Tiger with a roar.

These events are clearly as much exercises in foreign relations – “symphonic diplomacy” – as they are in making cultural connections – “ears wide open”. The programs strike a sometimes uneasy balance between Western and Chinese music, and often feature Chinese/Australian soloists.

Sharon Zhai, Kang Wang and Joshua Tan with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Photo © Laura Manariti

Hamer Hall was close to capacity for this year’s concert, with Chinese families comprising much of the audience. Directly in front of me, a Chinese toddler, perhaps barely three years old, waved his arms in imitation of the conductor. Perhaps 25 years from now, we may read that moment in the biography of an emerging Australian-Chinese conductor.

In 2019, the MSO embarked on a four-year cultural partnership with the Singapore Symphony Group. Last year, small contingents of the MSO and the Singapore Symphony Orchestras joined in a virtual collaboration, performing JC Bach’s Double...