Chinese orchestra organizers determined to reschedule event

It was a cultural visit years in the making.

But a Chinese orchestra that planned to play two concerts in metro Atlanta is staying home due to the swine flu.

he 49-member Hangzhou Zhongee Wenlan High School orchestra was scheduled to perform July 25 at the Rialto Theatre in Atlanta and the next day at the Centre for Performing & Visual Arts in Newnan.

Organizers had lined up host families, cultural exchanges, sightseeing trips, a group dinner and celebrations. Local students were getting ready to print T-shirts reading, “Ambassador, City of Newnan, China Tour 2009.”

“It’s pretty heartbreaking,” said Bette Hickman, a Newnan Cultural Arts Commission member. “This involved hundreds of people. Our kids were so pumped up for this, and we had just done an orientation.

“But we are going to do this again. We are going to make this happen.”

The Chinese school’s principal sent a letter last week saying his provincial education department had banned students from going abroad. The decree followed the death of a 34-year-old woman in Hangzhou, who was infected with the H1N1 virus and had just returned from the U.S.

“In our side, everything is ready such as the performance clothes, shoes, the program list and we practice our programs twice a week, and we did what we can to make it perfect,” principal Ren Jichang wrote to Hickman. “Just at the moment we are leaving for the USA, I have to say sorry to you.”

The U.S. has nearly 34,000 confirmed swine flu cases, and 170 people have died from the virus. Most people have recovered without needing medical treatment. Georgia has 118 confirmed cases, but no deaths. China reports more than 2,000 cases, but no deaths.

Hickman said the orchestra had previously performed in Paris but has never been to the U.S.

Forty-nine students aged 12 to 16, plus 10 adult chaperones, were scheduled to arrive July 23, stay in Georgia State housing and perform at the Rialto before coming to Newnan.

“The university saw it was something that would really be special,” Hickman said. “Then in Newnan I had them in host homes. I even had reserve host homes, that’s how my community responded.”

Newnan hosted a 100-member Scottish orchestra 10 years ago.

Hickman said she hopes the Chinese orchestra can come next summer.

Hickman communicates daily with a teacher at the Chinese school. “Their kids were devastated too,” Hickman said.