In November, I traveled to Shenzhen, China for a conference on the future of Chinese classical music. Sponsored by Volkswagen Chinaâs cultural initiativeâwhich, full disclosure, paid for my flightsâthe conference gathered orchestral conductors, managers and administrators to the top floor of Shenzhenâs âTalent Park,â 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.
VAN: You were the first person to conduct a complete performance of Wagnerâs âRingâ in China. Did you experience the audienceâs reaction?
Yu Long: They loved it. Of course, this was in Beijing, which has a special audience. Classical music is booming in many Chinese cities, and the musical life is very well developed, but Beijing audiences are still specialâmore open-minded than elsewhere. They have the capacity to embrace all different kinds of culture.
That âRing,â I think it was in 2005, was a historical event. By the time âGĂśtterdämmerungâ finished, it was already midnight or 1 a.m., but there were still six standing ovations.
Are there other pieces that youâd like to do for the first time in China?
You know, in my life, I introduced most of the German work that came to China. I personally introduced the âRingâ cycle, âTannhäuser,â âRosenkavalier,â âAriadne auf Naxos,â âParsifal,â âTristan und Isolde,â âDie Meistersinger von NĂźrnberg,â âGuerrelieder,â âElektraâ⌠Itâs always exciting.
Iâll find more interesting pieces and bring them here too. You know, in China music is very developed, but we still have a lot of work to do, to expose people to the repertoire. When I started the Beijing Musical Festival, we did mostly traditional works like âCarmen,â âLa Bohème,â âToscaâ or whatever. After 10 years of the festival, we started to introduce more challenging works: mostly German repertoire. And five years ago, we started to introduce contemporary music to China as well.

In VAN, Lucy Cheung, a Chinese music journalist, wrote that Chinese audiences prefer to see famous Western orchestras when they come on tour, as opposed to local ensembles. Do you think thatâs true?
No. Though it can depend on the local orchestra. At the closing gala of the Beijing Music Festival, we performed with the Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra and Yo-Yo Ma, and were received warmly by the audience.
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You initiated a commissioning project called COMPOSE 20:20. Who do you think are some of the most interesting young Chinese composers?
There are a lot. Zhao Lin recently composed a double concerto called âA Happy Excursionâ for pipa, cello and orchestra, for us and Yo-Yo Ma. This yearâs [Beijing Music Festival] also commissioned Fay Kueen Wang, who lives in New York, but is a Chinese composer, and Zhou Tian, who was nominated for a Grammy this year, and whoâs an excellent composer.
The composers of the [â78 generation] are fairly well known in the West: Chen Qigang, Su Gong, Guo Wenjing, those composers. They are very special, and Iâm so glad that China has this strong generation of composers. Now weâre also looking to the next generations, composers who were born in the â80s and even the â90s.
We support and encourage young composers. Itâs not because we need pieces to perform; itâs because we really care about how this generation of artists is developing, and we care about their artistic work at this time in their life.
Are there particular trends happening within these younger generations of Chinese composers, or are they all doing different things?
Theyâre doing quite different things. I mean, most young Chinese composers use at least some Chinese elements.
Itâs hard to criticize what is good or what is bad. The most important thing is to give them a chance, a free stage, and let them try their work.
What do you do when youâre premiering a new piece and you find that something isnât working?
What do you mean, isnât working?
Say the orchestration is flawed.
I havenât had that experience yet. When we commission a composer, we mostly already know them. We meet and have discussions.
You know, even with the younger generation, if they are a composer, they are a composer. They know what theyâre doing. In the orchestration, thereâs nothing that doesnât work. You can say you like it, or you donât like it, or whatever, that happens, but the orchestration not workingâŚI donât have these kind of problems.
In Shanghai, we have young peopleâs composition workshops. We collaborate with the New York Philharmonic, and itâs for ages 13-15. I love to see this young, baby work come out. Âś
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