On 24 July 2026, 13-year-old composer and multi-instrumentalist Carey Tan presented his original Symphony No. 3: The Rise and Fall of AI Humanity at the China National Opera House Theatre in Beijing, as part of the Peace and Future Symphony Concert — Kevin and Carey: Young Stars Symphony Night.
The work was performed by the China National Opera House Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Yuan Ding.
This concert marked an important moment in Carey Tan’s artistic journey. His original symphonic music was performed in his birthplace, Beijing, by a national-level professional orchestra, on one of China’s major classical music stages. The concert attracted thousands of audience members in the theatre and reached 3.82 million online viewers through the live broadcast on China.com.cn.
The event also received wide attention from major Chinese media, including CCTV-15 Music Channel, Beijing Satellite TV, Guangming Daily, Xinhua News, China Daily, China News Service, China Youth Daily, The Beijing News, Beijing Youth Daily, and other national and cultural media platforms.
Carey Tan’s Symphony No. 3: The Rise and Fall of AI Humanity is a large-scale orchestral work exploring the relationship between artificial intelligence, human responsibility, nature, creativity, and the future of civilisation. Although the title refers to AI, the central question of the piece is not simply whether artificial intelligence will become powerful. Instead, the work asks something more human: in an AI-dependent society, can we still choose to think, work, create, feel, and notice the beauty of nature around us?
The symphony unfolds like a musical allegory of a future civilisation. It imagines the construction of an AI-driven society, the comfort and order it creates, the gradual loss of human initiative and emotional depth, the collapse of that artificial order, and finally the echoes left behind after its fall. Through rhythm, orchestral colour, dramatic contrast, and narrative structure, Carey invites the audience to reflect on what humanity must preserve in a technological age: imagination, responsibility, emotional truth, and our connection with the natural world.
This performance was part of a concert built around two powerful artistic lines. Carey Tan used original symphonic music to respond to war, artificial intelligence, nature, and the future of humanity, while his elder brother, pianist Kevin Tan, performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, the “Emperor” Concerto. Together, the brothers created a dialogue between classical tradition and new original voices: one reaching back to Beethoven’s spiritual strength, the other looking forward to the moral and existential questions of our time.
For Carey, music is a universal language — a language without borders, capable of speaking directly to the heart and spirit. His aim is to make symphonic music understandable not only to professional musicians, but to everyone. Through his works, he hopes audiences can hear stories, see images, feel emotions, and reflect on the shared questions facing humanity.
Following the Beijing performance, the Peace and Future Symphony Concert will continue its international journey, with further performances in Europe, including the Czech Republic, Romania, Austria, and London. Through these concerts, Carey Tan’s original symphonic works will continue to bring the creativity of young Chinese musicians to international classical music audiences, serving as a bridge between Chinese and Western cultures and allowing the world to hear a new generation of voices from China.
Work: Symphony No. 3: The Rise and Fall of AI Humanity
Composer: Carey Tan
Orchestra: China National Opera House Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Yuan Ding
Venue: China National Opera House Theatre, Beijing
Date: 24 July 2026
Concert: Peace and Future Symphony Concert — Kevin and Carey: Young Stars Symphony Night
