In November, I traveled to Shenzhen, China for a conference on the future of Chinese classical music. Sponsored by Volkswagen China’s cultural initiative—which, full disclosure, paid for my flights—the conference gathered orchestral conductors, managers and administrators to the top floor of Shenzhen’s “Talent Park,” a brand-new pavilion looking out onto the bay. As panelists spoke about ways to increase rehearsal efficiency, I met Yu Long, a Chinese conductor who studied composition in Berlin in the late 1980s, for an interview. Born in Shanghai, the city where classical music gained a foothold in modern China, the conductor has the brusque manner of a local politician. He is the artistic director of the China Philharmonic Orchestra, the music director of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, and principal guest conductor at the Hong Kong Philharmonic. After our conversation, Yu joined Volkswagen China CEO Jochem Heizmann for a panel on the similarities between managing an automobile company and an orchestra. In fact, the two jobs seemed rather different, but both men agreed about the importance of listening.
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