China Philharmonic Orchestra

It has been fourteen years since the inception of China Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) amid miraculous development. For the past fourteen years CPO has achieved an astonishing leap forward and won wide attention home and abroad. CPO sets an example for the infinite potential of Chinese cultural renewal and economic boom, as witnessed by the rest of the world.

Yet one cannot comprehend CPO’s accomplishment without perceiving its exciting and enormous social frame. A large number of artists work together to fulfill their dreams with zealous passion and determination. This makes it possible to lead the great symphonic music course in China to a better and merrier destination.

‘Spring's command, sweet necessity (Lenzes Gebot, die süsse Not)’, as put by Hans Sachs in Richard Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. With the motto “to be the best orchestra in China, leading in Asia and renowned in the world” set at the very beginning, CPO is bound to unveil a new chapter in the symphonic music scene.

And so be it and how true is sweet necessity. In the spring of 2009, CPO was named Most Inspiring Orchestras by Gramophone online, joining the glittering array of ten fellow orchestras including Berliner Philharmoniker, London Symphony Orchestra and New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

For that moment CPO has prepared for fourteen years with more than 500 programmes, presenting over 2,000 music pieces and attracting millions of audience. It has toured the country and the globe by more than half a million miles, an equivalent of circling the world 20 times.

One

With the patronage of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, China Philharmonic Orchestra was founded on the basis of China Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra and administered by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. Long Yu is the Artistic Director and Chief Conductor. As one of the youngest and most dynamic symphony orchestras in China, CPO takes pride in professionalism, a role model to be followed by its Chinese peers.

On December 16th 2000, Long Yu conducted CPO in the inaugural concert at Poly Theatre in Beijing to huge acclaim. In the past nine subscription seasons since September 2001, musicians and orchestra managers attained unprecedented artistic standards with endeavor and wisdom under the leadership of Long Yu and successive chairs.

Highlights of the inaugural season from September 2001 to July 2002 include the world premiere of Philip Glass’ Cello Concerto, Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust and Women General of Yang Family, a symphony poem in Peking opera style commissioned by CPO. In the following season Long Yu conducted the China premiere of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (Symphony of a Thousand) with nearly a thousand domestic and visiting artists on the stage. It is a milestone in the music history in China. That season also offered complete Beethoven symphony cycle, concertos and most of his overtures as part of the Immortal Beethoven concert series, highlighted by the closing concert of Beethoven’s

Symphony No. 9 conducted by Long Yu in a most convincing approach. For the first two ambitious seasons CPO qualifies itself as one of the leading orchestras in Asia. CPO also presented the complete symphony cycle of Mahler in the first three seasons. Forthcoming seasons boast of centennial concerts devoted to Dvoák, Mozart, Shostakovich, Mendelssohn, Haydn and Karajan.

In view of CPO’s artistic and managerial integrity, music lovers and sponsors from all walks of life have generously supported this orchestra with monetary and moral contributions. Together they form the strong backbones of CPO. backbones of CPO.

Two

In the past fourteen years CPO has presented numerous premieres that are virtually nowhere to be found elsewhere in China and forged its own style through extensive artistic involvement.
On October 21st 2001 Philip Glass’ Cello Concerto, commissioned by CPO, got its world premiere at Poly Theatre in Beijing. This is the first commissioned work by an oversee composer from music establishment in China ever.

CPO is also the champion of Chinese contemporary music and stages premieres or commissions every season. Important premieres encompass Women General of the Yang Family by DU Mingxin on May 20th 2002, Oriental Sun by GUO Wenjing on October 17th 2002, Les Cinq Elements, Iris dévoilée and Reflet d'un temps disparu by CHEN Qigang on October 17th 2002, When Cranes Fly Home by John Sharpley on March 2nd 2003, Resurrection Piano Concerto by Krzysztof Penderecki on August 29th 2004 with the composer on the podium and Dmitri Alexeev on the keyboard.

Other essential world premiere are credited to CPO: The Song of the Earth after Mahler’s namesake by Chinese composer YE Xiaogang at Poly Theatre on February 18th 2005, The Lofty Kunlun Mountains by YE on September 1st 2007 commissioned by CPO, tone poem This Land So Rich in Beauty by GUO Wenjing on September 23rd in the same year. CPO presented a typical and well-acclaimed east meets west concert on October 24th during the 10th Beijing Music Festival, featuring a double bill world premiere of TAN Dun’s Four Secret Roads of Marco Polo and Penderecki’s Symphony No. 8 Lieder der Verganglichkeit.

Three

CPO is the active and frequent advocate of Chinese music in the global sphere. With Long YU and his fellow conductors SHI Shucheng, YANG Yang and XIA Xiaotang, the orchestra is involved in a wide range of tours ever since. CPO toured in Taipei, Taichung, Hsinchu and Kaohsiung in September 2001.In June 2002, CPO toured North and Latin America with Long Yu and Penderecki conducting two performances at the Casals Festival in Peuto Rico, followed by sensational bay area concerts in San Jose and Los Angeles etc. In September 2002, CPO toured Japan and Korea followed by a European tour in the following September including Opéra National de Paris, Teatr Narodowy in Warsaw and Wiener Musikverein goldener Saal.

In December 2004 as invited by the government of Italy, CPO shared the stage at the Congress Hall in Rome with Leo Nucci and Barbara Frittoli in the Christmas concert. The concert was transmitted live in Europe via RAI and won high esteem.

February to April 2005 came the historic moment of CPO when the orchestra launched an unprecedented world tour under the baton of Long Yu covering 22 cities in US, Canada, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, UK, highlighted by concerts in Lincoln Centre, Barbican Centre and Berliner Philharmonie with positive reviews from New York Times, Times and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

To commemorate the 250th anniversary of Mozart, CPO as the only Asian orchestra joined the live transmitted concert rally on January 27th 2006 with Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, New York Philharmonic and Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

In May 2008, CPO was invited to play at the Paul VI Audience Hall in Vatican to over 8,000 audience including his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI with a programme of Mozart Requiem and Chinese folk tune Jasmine Flower. International and domestic press hailed the concert as an ice breaking music venture.

In October 2010, invited by the Ministry of Culture, CPO gave a tour concert in Rome during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited Italy on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Italy and China and for the inauguration of the Chinese Cultural Year in Italy. Dedicating Italian audience a high standard concert, CPO appeared on the stage of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma with a unique program, a combination of the classics of Chinese culture, Peking Opera and of Italian opera. Premier Wen Jiabao and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi attended the opening concert, jointly giving witness on the Sino-Italian cultural exchange event. Premier Wen Jiabo has also met the musicians of the CPO and taken pictures at his hotel before the concert.

In April 2011, promoted by the CAMI Music, the CPO, under the directing of Mo. Long Yu, toured in the West Coast area again in the United States, giving concerts in San Francisco, Davis, Santa Barbara, Costa Mesa, Northridge, San Diego, Palm Desert and other places. Those sold-out concerts made a stir among audiences. It is worth mentioning that this is the most successful international tour for the COP; A success in box office is a great encouragement for the Chinese Symphony Orchestras.

Four

To commemorate its 10th anniversary, CPO announced five celebratory concerts from April 25th to May 25th 2010. The audiences get the chance to experience CPO’s enduring appeal and higher artistic standards. The concert series proves not only to be the showcase of an orchestra in progress but the overall China’s music endeavor in shape for the past fourteen  years.

The past fourteen years encompasses all the emotional element found in music, regardless joy, pain, hardships or ups and downs. However this is the moment to celebrate the orchestra and its great course immortalized by the deceased and the being, the old and the young, the knowledged and the philistine, the maestri and the rising stars. CPO pays homage to them for all their contributions.

The course of the past fourteen years for the CPO is the first scale in an interval of a century to come where we shall rejoice, summarize, reflect and anticipate.

Artistic Director & Chief Conductor: Long Yu

As one of the most distinguished Chinese conductors with an established international reputation, Maestro Long Yu is currently Vice-president of Chinese Musicians Association, Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the China Philharmonic Orchestra, Music Director of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Artistic Director of the Beijing Music Festival and Music in the Summer Air, MISA.

Long Yu is one of the conductors who conducts the world top-class orchestras most frequently, he has appeared with a prestigious list of leading orchestras and a lot of opera companies around the world, including the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the Washington National Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Hamburg State Opera, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester Leipzig, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Tokyo Philharmonic and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

Long Yu was born in 1964 into a family of musicians in Shanghai. Musical education in his early childhood came from his grandfather Ding Shande, a composer of great renown, and he later studied at the Shanghai Conservatory with Professor Xiaotong Huang and then studied at the Hochschule der Kunst in Berlin with Maestro Robinstein. Outstanding music talents and Excellent educational background make Long Yu a preeminent conductor.

Long Yu’s career has included both artistic and administrative appointments. In 1992, he was appointed Principal Conductor of the Central Opera Theatre in Beijing, and in the same year, he was involved in the planning of the first Beijing New Year’s Concert and served as its conductor for three consecutive years. He also produced operas for The Urban Council of Hong Kong for five successive years. In 1998, he led the creation of the Beijing Music Festival and was its Founding Artistic Director. Under his leadership the Beijing Music Festival is regarded as the largest classical music festival in the eastern hemisphere and one of the world’s most important music festivals. During the past 11years at this annual autumn festival there have been many splendid concerts given by leading orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic, as well as outstanding productions of the Ring, Der Rosenkavalier, Tannhäuser, La Traviata, Nabucco, Lulu and Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by visiting opera companies including the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Teatro la Fenice and the Mariinsky Theatre.

In 2000, Long Yu co-founded the China Philharmonic Orchestra and was appointed Artistic Director and Chief Conductor. Now entering his 9th season with the China Philharmonic, he has maintained the high standard of orchestral performance and artistic administration and built the ensemble’s reputation as not only a leading Chinese orchestra but also a world-famous one. In 2003, Long Yu was appointed the Music Director of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra and he has been raising the level and fame of the orchestra rapidly. He toured extensively with the China Philharmonic Orchestra, the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra as well as the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. In September 2003, under his leadership, the China Philharmonic Orchestra toured Europe, with memorable concerts at the Palais Garnier, Paris, the Teatr Wielki – National Opera Warsaw and the Grosser Saal of the Musikverein, Vienna. In December of the same year he undertook a major European and Egyptian tour with the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra and Mischa Maisky, giving concerts at Theatre des Champs-Élysées, Paris, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Luxemburg, Cairo Opera House and Alexander Opera House. From February to April 2005, he led the China Philharmonic Orchestra on an international tour. Within 40 days they appeared in 22 cities throughout North America and Europe. In 2008, for the first time in history, the China Philharmonic Orchestra performed under the baton of maestro Long Yu at the Vatican in the Paul VI Auditorium. The concert was attended by The Holy Father Pope Benedict XIV and marked a giant step in bringing eastern and western cultures closer together. In April 2009 the China Philharmonic Orchestra was selected by the Gramophone, which is widely regarded as the best classical music magazine in the world, as one of "the world’s 10 most inspiring orchestras". In November 2009 Long Yu led the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra on a twelve-city North American tour which is a huge success. The tour began with the closing concert of the Ancient Paths, Modern Voices Festival at Carnegie Hall and included concerts in Los Angeles, Toronto and San Diego. A New York Times report from November 9, 2009 gave an introduction to Long Yu’s artistic achievement and hailed him as "China’s Herbert von Karajan." In March 2010 Long Yu conducted the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra at the 14th Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival in Krakow and gave concerts in Warsaw and Lodz. All the performances won high praise from both audiences and critics. In 2011, Long Yu toured extensively with the China Philharmonic Orchestra in 8 cities in west coast of United States. In Chinese spring festival of 2012, Long Yu led the New York Philharmonic in the First Chinese New Year Concert at Avery Fisher Hall of Lincoln Center.

Maestro Long Yu’s reputation has been enhanced by his activities as a widely admired and respected figure in administration of orchestras and festival as well as in international exchanging of musical culture. As a champion of contemporary music Long Yu has been commissioning a number of works from today’s prominent composers such as Krzysztof Penderecki, Philip Glass, Guo Wenjing, Tan Dun, Ye Xiaogang and Unsuk Chin.

Mr. Long Yu’s recordings include, on Deutsche Grammophon with the China Philharmonic, Brahms’s Piano Quartet in G Minor (orch. Arnold Schoenberg) and Wagner’s Tannhäuser Overture, highlights of Chinese symphonic music and Yellow River Concerto with Lang Lang as featured soloist. Recordings on Naxos include Korngold’s Violin Concerto and Ding Shande’s Long March Symphony.

Long Yu received the 2002 Montblanc Arts Patronage Award from the Montblanc Cultural Foundation, and in 2003 came Le grade de chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres (The Honor of Chevalier of French Art and Culture) from the Government of France. In 2005, Italian President honored Maestro Long Yu L’onorificenza di commendatore.

In November 2010, the Central Conservatory of Music has presented Maestro Long Yu with a certificate of the Honourable Academician from the Central Conservatory at a conference for 70th year anniversary of its founding, in recognition of his great contribution and devoted efforts to the development in classical music in China and cultural exchanges over the past decade. On December 2010, he was awarded People of the Year in Arts Field in China.

Programme:

2015-8-6
Conductor: Long Yu
Violin: Cheng Zeng

2015-8-8
Conductor: Xiaotang Xia
Violin: Cheng Zeng

2015-8-10
Conductor: Xiaotang Xia
Violin: Cheng Zeng

2015-8-13

2015-8-14 21:00

2015-8-17
Conductor: Xiaotang Xia
Violin: Cheng Zeng

2015-8-19
Conductor: Long Yu
Violin: Cheng Zeng