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 Yu Long conducting the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, before the New York Philharmonic took over at a recent outdoor concert in New York. Photos provided to China Daily
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Taking a leaf from the summer music traditions of orchestras abroad, the intrepid Yu Long is bringing classical music to an outdoor concert festival. Chen Jie reports
Two weeks ago, some 30,000 people attended the out-door concert by the New York Philharmonic and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra on the Great Lawn at Central Park, New York. It was the first time in the 46-year history of the Philharmonic's summer music tradition that it was sharing a park program with a guest ensemble. Lang Lang, the Chinese keyboard star joined the Shanghai Symphony to play Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue for the concert's climax. Some among the home audience caught the performance on Shanghai TV and Dragon TV the next day. But nothing can match the atmosphere of a live show.
Knowing this only too well, Yu Long, artistic director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, is now bringing this summer music trend to China.
While the New York Philharmonic has the Concerts in the Parks summer program, Tanglewood has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937 and the Berlin Philharmonic has been holding open-air concerts since 1984 at the Waldbuhne theater nestled in a natural valley.
Although China now has more pop and rock festivals in summer, there is little classical music.
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"In Chinese people's mind, classical music means a high-brow audience, sitting properly in a hall," Yu told China Daily on Friday before giving a speech on classical music at Sanlitun Village, as part of the Audi on Stage summer concert.
"The open-air concert offers an opportunity for the uninitiated to get a taste of classical music. It's also an opportunity to gather with friends and enjoy drinks, snacks and conversation, with the orchestra providing a soundtrack.
"Just imagine, people spread out a picnic blanket, feasting on gourmet goodies and listening to live music as the sun sets and the stars reveal themselves," Yu says.
The Shanghai-born conductor says his hometown did once have the summer concert tradition. Fuxing Park, built in 1909 and originally named France Park, often had summer concerts before 1949 and the 130-year-old Shanghai Symphony Orchestra even performed there.
Yu wants to revive this by launching Music in the Summer Air (MISA), an annual outdoor festival in Shanghai.
He has invited Charles Dutoit, music director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and principal conductor of Philadelphia Orchestra, to co-direct MISA, which will run from Aug 12 to 22.
"I'm excited to embark on a new and interesting venture in China," says maestro Dutoit. "We are aiming at a successful festival whose future should develop positively in the years to come and hopefully become one of the most important summer festivals in Asia."
The festival program's repertoire ranges from solo recital works to chamber music and very large-scale symphonic works performed by Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and leading world musicians including Chinese pianist Yundi Li, Russian pianist Kirill Gerstein, Canadian violinist Chantal Juillet, South Korean soprano Sumi Jo and Chinese baritone Liao Changyong who just performed in the Central Park concert.
In a pre-program event, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and Shanghai Municipal Education Commission co-organized a summer camp for student players. Led by 85-year-old conductor Cao Peng, a jury auditioned thousands of 15-year-old and older students early this month. The selected players have formed a youth orchestra that will receive training by MISA soloists and give concerts in MISA.
"Many of Shanghai's high schools have a tradition of students' orchestra," says Cao, who has specialized in discovering and coaching young talent ever since retiring from the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.
"I don't expect, and most of the players themselves don't want to become professional musicians, but (the idea is) to develop an interest in and a love of music. Of course, some of them would take it up as a profession one day, which will enhance the music tradition of the city," the veteran conductor says.
MISA has also invited actor Pu Cunxin to give a lecture on music and drama, writer Yu Qiuyu to talk about music and literature and oil painter Wang Xiangmin to share his views on music and fine art.
It's a pity, Yu could not bring the concerts back to Fuxing Park and could not find an ideal alternative. Hence, a 50-meter-long, 30-meter-wide and 10-meter-high huge tent is being constructed at the corner of the crossing of Huaihai Road and Fenyang Road.
It is not that simple to have an orchestra playing outdoors, according to Yu.
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 The New York concert attracted an audience of about 30,000. |
"And without good acoustic equipment, you cannot really assess the sound, texture and balance of an orchestra at an outdoor amplified concert," he adds.
Yu sounds more comfortable with the venue of the Audi On Stage summer concert in Beijing.
On Aug 24, Yu will conduct the China Philharmonic Orchestra at the Temple of Heaven. Lang Lang will play Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, the Central Park piece, and Broadway singers Debbie Gravitte, Christiane Noll and Doug LaBrecque will perform popular musical arias.
"Temple of Heaven is a great location. The concert here will be a dialogue between East and West and between history and the contemporary," says Tu Song, program director of Beijing Music Festival, who is also assisting Yu to produce the Audi On Stage festival.
But it too has problems. As an important historic venue, it is difficult to get permission to perform there from the Beijing municipal government and it is impossible to return there every summer, Tu says.
Inspired by Tanglewood and the New York Philharmonic's other summer residency at the Vail Valley in the Colorado Rockies, Yu opened an international summer music academy in 2005, at the Butterfly Valley, a 40-minute drive from Guangzhou, Guangdong province. It was the first professional summer academy in China.
Dutoit served as its music director. The academy aimed to provide young talent from both China and other Asian countries with a unique opportunity to make music with world-renowned artists such as Dutoit, Chantal Juillet and Kirill Gerstein.
The academy did well in the first three years when the provincial culture bureau of Guangdong provided financial support. But after the government canceled the budget in 2008, the academy had to close down. Dutoit, Juillet and Gerstein then moved to Shanghai this summer with Yu.
Yu is known not only for his conducting but his wide network and personal relationships in the music world and in government.
Wray Armstrong, Chairman and CEO of Armstrong Arts Ltd, which is collaborating as executive producer for 2010 MISA, tells China Daily, "In the past 12 years since I first visited China, the Western classical music scene has grown at an unbelievably fast pace and Yu is always behind the great classical music events."
"People always say we should promote Chinese culture, but in my eyes most of what we send aboard is only 'Chinatown culture'. I don't say Chinatown is not good, I love Chinese restaurants in Chinatown, but that cannot represent all Chinese culture today.
"Classical music is the mainstream culture and we should let Westerners know that we have such great soloist as Lang Lang, outstanding orchestras as well as unique festivals that draw large appreciative audiences," Yu says.