The China Philharmonic Orchestra is coming to Vancouver for the first time to mark the opening of a major Chinese office headquarters here.

The symphony,  under maestro Long Yu, is set to play the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts on November 30, presented by the Poly Culture Group in partnership with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

On the program: Good News from Beijing and Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony,  along with an appearance by 11-year-old Chinese piano prodigy Serena Wang in a performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1.  

The orchestra will be launching its North American tour that night. Founded in 2000 in Beijing, it's performed throughout Asia and everywhere from Berlin to the Vatican to the BBC Proms in London. 

Poly Culture Group, which is state-owned, a subsidiary of China Poly Group Corporation, and China's largest arts-and-culture company, is opening its North American headquarters here. The company aims to enter the business areas of performance and theatre management, art business and auction, and cinema investment here, emphasizing cultural exchange between B.C. and China

It also intends to open the Poly Gallery--described as a "flagship art gallery" at 905 West Pender Street. The company owns one of the world's largest art auction houses.