The special concert for the Moxinglun Junior Orchestra of Tianhe Children's Palace was staged at the Xinghai Concert Hall on Oct 9, lifting the curtain on Tianhe district's music and dance season.

The music and dance season will run through Nov 10, with 10 teams of more than 2,000 performers from across Tianhe taking part.

The concert begins with the March of the Steel Torrent. A Happy Birthday to You song was also performed that night to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Tianhe Children's Palace. [Photo by Chen Junsheng/Guangzhou Daily]

Gong Wei, director of the Tianhe bureau of education, said at the concert that Tianhe has been promoting art education for everyone in recent years. The Tianhe Children's Palace, as the only public off-campus education center in the district, has taken on the responsibility of art education and achieved remarkable results.

It has opened 48 courses, undertaken 628 projects, and trained more than 100,000 students. In the past five years, its teachers and students have won 365 gold awards in various international, national and provincial-level competitions, as well as 677 first, 196 second and 140 third prizes.

Gong Wei delivers a speech at the concert. [Photo by Chen Junsheng/Guangzhou Daily]

The Tianhe Children's Palace was named the teaching practice base for Xinghai Conservatory of Music's orchestral development center at the concert, aiming to boost the development of Tianhe's orchestras.

Construction started on the new campus for the Tianhe Children's Palace on May 10. The new campus will cover an area of 8,774 square meters and have a combined floor area of 38,600 sq m. It is scheduled to be put into use in 2025 with an annual student capacity of over 15,000.