Strings Magazine: Yo-Yo Ma and Silk Road Ensemble Members Team Up with Maestro Long Yu for Inaugural Youth Music Culture Guangdong

Strings Magazine
By Stephanie Powell

Music director Michael Stern fervently bounces along to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 as he leads the string section of the orchestra. Stern pauses to offer thoughtful direction to the violins on breathing with their bows and asks the violas to sing into the cello section—and, also, to lighten the mood. “It’s joy,” he says of the passage in the score, “and it’s also just noise, right?” Laughter erupts. About 45 minutes into rehearsal, someone slips in through a side door. The students are so focused on the repertoire at hand they don’t notice.

But I take notice of the tip-toeing man, with Jacqueline de Pré’s 1712 Strad in hand, headed toward the last seat in the cello section—it’s Yo-Yo Ma. He shares a music stand and dives right into the Beethoven.

Ma is in Guangzhou, historically a major terminus of the Silk Road in the Guangdong province of China, acting as the artistic director of Youth Music Culture Guangdong—a program in its first year designed to shake up 80 young musicians with a flurry of chamber-music coachings, Silk Road Ensemble–style workshops, panel discussions, and two final concerts, where participants perform as chamber-music groups and as an orchestra.

The program is the brainchild of Ma, who tapped veteran orchestra players and some of his fellow Silk Road Ensemble members to join him, and maestro Long Yu—a powerful, almost single-handed force in China’s
classical-music scene. He holds director-level positions in multiple orchestras across the country, is the founder of the Beijing Music Festival, and much more. The participants, who together make up the YMCG orchestra, are between the ages of 18 and 35, and are all of Chinese descent from Guangzhou or neighboring provinces, Europe, and the United States.

Violinist Johnny Gandelsman coaches a group of YMCG participants on Beethoven’s Septet in E-flat major, Op. 20. Photo by Liang Yan

The two-week-long program takes place at the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra’s rehearsal hall, located idyllically adjacent to the Pearl River. The hall is surrounded by a jagged skyline of metallic skyscrapers and cutting-edge architecture, and the backdrop proves a perfect setting in which to explore the juxtaposition of new and ancient.

And exploration is exactly what Ma has set out to inspire. He’s not there to perform the Beethoven with the orchestra, which is billed on the final-concert program (though he can’t help but sit in and discuss the intricacies of the symphonic work with inquiring minds during rehearsal breaks). He’s there to take trained, technically proficient musicians on a journey to tackle the unfamiliar.

The faculty selected to help the students on that journey includes violinists Johnny Gandelsman and Shaw Pong Liu; cellist Mike Block; oboist Liang Wang of the New York Philharmonic; clarinest/composer Kinan Azmeh; trumpeter Bill Williams; percussionist and Silk Road associate artistic director Joseph Gramley; 22-year-old yangqin player Reylon Yount; singer/sheng virtuoso Wu Tong, and Harvard researcher Tina Blythe. Michael Stern, music director of the Kansas City Symphony and son of violinist Isaac Stern, takes charge as music director of the YMCG orchestra.

Yo-Yo Ma and Long Yu speak during a YMCG panel discussion. Photo by Liang Yan

With the upswing of growth in China’s classical-music scene, it’s no surprise this powerhouse team found its way here. From the inaugural Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition, which took place last January, to the opening of Juilliard’s first satellite campus in Tianjin in 2018, there is undoubtedly a driving force in China’s classical-music scene that feels like it’s only continuing to build momentum. Concert halls are popping up all around the country: Construction of the China Philharmonic Hall is set to finish in 2019, and will offer the country’s philharmonic its first permanent (and translucent) 11,600-square-meter home. It’s hard to ignore the buzz—but why Guangzhou? I ask Ma and Yu—and they each credit the other for the idea.

Guangzhou was the first Chinese port open to foreign traders and was a stop on the Silk Road—offering a convergence of cultures. “Guangzhou is a very interesting place,” Yu says. “It’s very open-minded and young people come here from all over China—from Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin—not just the Guangdong province.”

This sense of diversity is central to the YMCG experience. “What’s interesting is that there are people here from all the different Chinese cultures, from all the provinces,” cellist Mike Block says, “so, there’s this internal energy. It seems like it’s important that the participants are all here together.”

Chinese conservatories have a reputation for producing musicians with razor-sharp technique, which is apparent during any rehearsal. But conservatories also tend to place a heavy emphasis on orchestral works—programming that YMCG challenges with daily chamber-music coachings and improvisation exercises. “Education in China is a valid [topic] to be discussed—not only in China, but all over the world,” Yu says. “For this program, the most interesting [aspect to me] is opening more windows in the mind. [Showing participants] different ways to see—how you could be; how big the possibilities are as a person. You can change yourself. That is more important than only playing onstage. We can find thousands of talented players who are technically perfect, which [can be important], but I don’t want to see a perfect, technical machine onstage—I want to see a person full of life.

“[Playing] music is like having a conversation with a friend, and if the [participants] are learning that—to have that joy, that conversation—that’s the reason that we are doing this. To understand more meaning in life. Yo-Yo has such a big heart; he brings all the young people to another world.”

“Are you a comet?” Yo-Yo Ma asks a group of wide-eyed violists after they play a passage of Bach’s Concerto for Violin and Oboe in C minor. He pauses. “Are you a planet? Are you an alien?”

The blank stares continue, and then some laughter, as he tries to elicit excitement from the violists after a technically sound performance that still seemed to lack full heart. “This is the viola’s revenge,” he assures them. “We, too, are stringed instruments! This is your moment!”

This is a typical exchange during Ma’s chamber-music coaching sessions—he uses out-of-this-world metaphors, swaying along with the music, occasionally demonstrating on instruments, communicating in confident Chinese (albeit needing occasional backup on a few words, like “sister-in-law”), and with his breathing and body language.

Ma is in fact so committed to effective communication that his body language almost betrays him during a rehearsal of the Dvorak Cello Concerto in B minor with the YMCG orchestra. Stern and the participants are lost in the moment, moving so quickly through the music that Ma, bowing up front on the podium, leans so far forward that Stern has to grab him to keep him from toppling over.

During my first day observing chamber-music sessions and Silk Road workshops, I can see bemusement in the participants’ eyes. This isn’t about perfecting intonation or achieving technical accuracy—it is about finding freedom in the music, and revealing a part of themselves. “Today I said to the section leaders, ‘Look, your job as section leader is to communicate energy, character, gesture,’” Ma says. “And you have your back to everybody, so your shoulders—you have to communicate through that frame. If you want to communicate life, you actually have to look at your body space for what it is—and then, you actually have to exceed it.

“Think of air and boiling water,” he says. “If you’re a pot with a lid on it, the water’s cold, the air takes up a certain amount of body, and once it heats up, [the lid] starts to pop—that’s what you have to do. You have to show what is expected of you, and then you actually have to go further.”

This is not a school, Ma says of YMCG, “but what I love about it is that it’s what a school could be.” The model is simple—start out with a diverse faculty with varied skillsets, but similar values. “We don’t say, ‘Oh, this is the way to teach,’ but through those values, we sign on to sort of say, ‘OK, how can we do a 360 on music? How can we acknowledge different styles of music in large-group playing, and how do you take it to small groups?’”

The results are transformative. The participants’ schedule is jam-packed—the day starts at 10 am with a three-hour orchestra rehearsal, which is usually punctuated with laughter in between demanding passages, thanks to Stern and Ma’s witty banter. Chamber-music rehearsal follows for two hours before a Silk Road workshop. A panel discussion that melds music, philosophy, innovation, and tradition caps off the day.

Yo-Yo Ma sits in the back of the cello section during orchestra rehearsal at YMCG. Photo by Li Lewei

“What I like about coaching is helping the participants figure out what’s in the music. It’s kind of like music archeology,” violinist and Silk Road Ensemble member Johnny Gandelsman says. “Sometimes, if you don’t have a lot of experience with playing chamber music or looking at the score, you might not realize how special something is, so I like working with the groups on details, and helping them discover things for themselves.

“And then, once there is that moment of recognition, of, ‘Oh, I get it!’ That’s really rewarding—they’re excited about the music,” he says. “And now they have tools to succeed: to know how to listen to each other, how to look for unified sound. Building trust and having these building blocks that they can then take into their lives when this is over.”

About a quarter of the participants are professional musicians, Gandelsman says, holding positions in some of China’s most well-respected orchestras. Others, Ma later tells me, aren’t necessarily studying music performance or have aspirations of becoming professional musicians. One works as a physicist, and had about three years of violin lessons in his youth. Since then, he’s been essentially self-taught (which seems impossible upon hearing him play) and more than anything, he always wanted the opportunity to perform Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite with an orchestra. YMCG is his chance.

The Silk Road workshops are unmistakable highlights for the faculty and participants. On the first day of the workshops, the students choose one of six Silk Road tunes as a place to start, and they then have to improvise. Walking through the GSO during the workshops, I hear music singing from each corner that sounds like it comes from both the center of the earth and the beginning of time.

Block, director of Silk Road’s Global Musician Workshop, heads the workshops at YMCG. “Apparently the way that classical music is taught [in China] is very regimented,” Block says, “and the same can be said about American classical teaching. The warnings that I got were that it was somehow even more regimented here. So we were unsure how the participants would react to the Silk Road–band opportunity, and I felt from the first session I had with them that they were really no different than American classical musicians. They had various walls that we wanted to break through, but across the board they rose to the occasion.”

Cellist Mike Block coaches a chamber group before a YMCG “Tomorrow Concert.” Photo by Liang Yan

Block has led similar workshops with Silk Road’s Global Musician Workshop across the United States—even at Tanglewood last summer. Leading workshops in such strict orchestral arenas, like YMCG, can be challenging, he says. Typically the workshops take place in an environment where the participants are choosing to be there because they want to improvise and want to be creative. “I’m coming into an orchestral environment where participants aren’t necessarily expecting or planning to improvise, and that’s a very different environment to do this work in,” he says. “Yo-Yo is very passionate about taking those values and bringing them to people who don’t know they need them, or don’t know they value them yet. So, that’s a big part of why I’m here—to have this experience with them.”

There are three nights of final concerts, two chamber-music and one orchestral, that demonstrate the transformative power of this program. The final orchestral performance is energentic and fearless—the orchestra members distinguish themselves with a performance delivered with a contagious sense of enthusiasm and confidence. It is an exhilerating evening, and what one might expect given the participants’ intensive orchestral training.

A chamber group takes in the audience’s response after a triumphant performance of a Silk Road–style arrangement during a Tomorrow Concert. Photo by Liang Yan

But throughout the program, students have also been preparing two sets of chamber-music works for YMCG’s “Tomorrow Concerts.” The concerts take place over two nights—dividing the participants into two sets of chamber groups. In the first half of each Tomorrow Concert program, chamber groups perform a piece of standard repertoire from Debussy to Bach to Steve Reich. In the second half, participants perform works they arranged and composed in the Silk Road workshops. After witnessing a handful of the workshops myself, I think I have a sense of what to expect.

I have, after all, watched the participants work through incorporating unnatural playing techniques and sounds into their compositions—like using the violin as a percussive instrument, fumbling awkwardly with unfamiliar instruments, and interspersing their arrangements with vocals and choreography. The participants’ skills and confidence grew, and it feels obvious. But the transformation that takes place overnight from rehearsal hall to the stage still manages to leave me, and the audience, speechless (figuratively).

During each half of the Tomorrow Concerts series, personality, humor, and confidence shine through the seven groups vibrantly. They take turns owning the stage, breathing together, looking at each other during passages that require dialogue between instruments, and leaning into one another during the standard-repertoire section. The Silk Road–workshop pieces deliver such freedom and variety that the faculty can’t help but shout, yell, stand, and clap after—and during—each performance.

The concerts demonstrate an assortment of explosive cello chopping, solid percussive techniques, stunning vocals, a little shimmying around the stage, and even Mission Impossible medleys.

A violist from the second group grabs the microphone and addresses the faculty, who are all sitting together in the audience. “This has been . . . ,” she says, and pauses, “so damn hard.” The faculty cheers. “We’re going to show you what is courage, what is brave, what is happy.” She then looks into the crowd for the participants who performed in the previous night’s Tomorrow Concert. “Group A—you asked for this,” she says before her group jumps into an electrifying performance.

The energy in the hall instantly changes from polite and attentive to a rowdy musical party. At the close of the final group’s performance, the faculty stands up to give a standing ovation, and you could sense that a door had opened for these students, and they had just started to walk through.

“I still remember the first day when all the [participants arrived],” Yu says. “I saw their eyes, their confusion—you know, they [didn’t] understand what was going on. [Many came] here because of Yo-Yo, but then they realize later that it’s not only Yo-Yo himself, it’s also the things that he brings to them . . . I saw all of their eyes onstage shining with a lot of confidence, a lot of fun, and they finally know why they [are playing]. Today, they became [alive].”

Despite coaching many of the groups, Block says, they still had the ability to surprise him. “For the performers who played during both halves [of the Tomorrow Concerts], it seemed like they were able to access different parts of themselves for the different types of music—and that is really exciting.”

Even Yu admits a slight bias for this project—after more than 20 years of advocating for and advancing the classical-music scene in China—and that says a lot. “YMCG will help the future generation,” he says. “Yo-Yo and I have both talked about this—he’s over 60 and I’m over 50—and for us, for the rest of our lives and careers, the most important [task] is how to help young people.

Yo-Yo Ma after a performance of Dvorak’s Cello Concerto with the YMCG orchestra. Photo by Li Lewei

“It’s my life—music is my language. I tried working for 20 years to help China make a lot of things happen, and a lot has worked. Today [classical music in] China [is] so different than when I came back from Europe. I’m very proud to say we’ve made huge musical changes. [With YMCG], Guangzhou has now opened a new window—[one] that we can now explore for other musicians in China.Creativity and imagination—those are two words that are now very important for young musicians in China.”

The passion is tangible, and (in my case) even tear-inducing. “I think there are as many ways to awaken passion as there are people because it’s so individual and you can’t just say, ‘I want passion!’ It’s something that happens I think when people are using all of themselves,” Ma says. “What makes people remember something forever? What happens I think is, when you are maximally open to something, and you meet a different world, you will maximize the moments with that passion.”

When I ask him for his final impressions of the participants’ Tomorrow Concert performances of their Silk Road arrangements, he replies, “That’s a big victory moment.

“They’ve self-identified. That’s what we hope for. Because you can build from that. Nobody’s going to ever forget what they did. They can forget all we’ve said—all the [orchestra and chamber music] we played—it doesn’t matter. But if they build from those performances they’re in good shape—[they can remember] ‘we used all of ourselves to say something that we really wanted to say.’”

YMCG music director Michael Stern during the final orchestra concert. Photo by Li Lewei

Financial Times: Youth Music Culture Guangdong, Xinghai Concert Hall, Guangzhou

Financial Times
By Ken Smith

A gathering of young musicians came to life when the players left their comfort zone.

Read the full article on the Financial Times website.

Banner image photo credit: Li Lewei.

The Strad: Cellist Yo-Yo Ma launches youth music programme in China

Youth Music Culture Guangdong (YMCG) is an annual two-week training programme for young musicians in Guangzhou, China, spearheaded by Ma.

The Strad

Leading cellist Yo-Yo Ma is to launch Youth Music Culture Guangdong (YMCG) on 7 January 2017 – an annual two-week training programme for young musicians in Guangzhou, China. The new event is the brainchild of Ma, who will serve as its artistic director.

Presented by the Department of Culture of Guangdong Province and organised by the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra and Xinghai Concert Hall, the programme will include concerts, masterclasses, workshops and cultural exchange events, culminating in a performance on 15 January by the YMCG Orchestra and Ma. Included on the faculty will be Michael Stern of the Kansas City Symphony, who will serve as conductor and music director.

Open to musicians between the ages of 18 and 35 from China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, YMCG is designed to promote ‘virtuosity and musicality, cultural awareness and personal artistic development’. All selected students will receive a full scholarship covering tuition and expenses.

‘I believe that any musician or artist should not only be technically proficient, but also be mindful of the power of their art and the need for it in the world,’ said Ma.

Guangdong invites Yo-Yo Ma to create a new cultural highlight in the province

Guangdong invites Yo-Yo Ma to create a new cultural highlight in the provinceYouth Music Culture Guangdong launches on January 7, 2017

After nearly two years of planning, the inaugural Youth Music Culture Guangdong (YMCG) festival will take place in Guangzhou from January 7 to 15, 2017. This festival, which is scheduled to become an annual event, will be a major cultural highlight for Guangdong province in the years to come.

Presented by the Guangdong Provincial Department of Culture, YMCG is organized by the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra (GSO) and the Xinghai Concert Hall. Celebrated conductor and GSO Music Director Long Yu was instrumental in inviting world-renowned artist Yo-Yo Ma to become YMCG’s Artistic Director. In fact, preparations for YMCG have already attracted much attention. On September 7, Yo-Yo Ma and Long Yu both took part in the press conference announcing the inaugural festival, which will feature a dazzling array of public events including two symphonic concerts, four chamber concerts and five “Music + Dialogue” sessions, as well as improvisation workshops and open rehearsals. The main site of these activities—Guangzhou’s Ersha Island—will transform itself into a full-time “cultural hotspot.”

Yo-Yo Ma: A musical icon for the Silk Road

Yo-Yo Ma is a musical genius whose name is revered around the world. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Anthropology and an Honorary Doctorate from Harvard University; he currently serves as a U.N. Messenger of Peace; to date, he has won 17 Grammies … but all these are mere labels. Yo-Yo Ma rose to prominence and achieved success as a musician, but he has extended his sights far beyond musical horizons. In 1998, he launched the Silk Road Project and Silk Road Ensemble, organizations dedicated to artistic, cultural and educational activities. Its inspiration originated from the ancient Silk Road from China, where diverse cultures and beliefs collide and interact. Its mission is to generate encounters among artists from around the world, breaking through geographical distances to establish a dialogue across time and space.

Anyone attending a concert by Yo-Yo Ma leaves the hall with a fresh perspective: that classical music performance doesn’t have to be serious! Since the legendary Leonard Bernstein, few classical musicians have such attributes in adding a human dimension and passion to the music. Although renowned as a classical musician, Yo-Yo Ma has proven himself supremely adaptable, winning accolades in other Grammy categories, most recently “Best Folk Album” (2013) in collaboration with like-minded artists. Ma has also recorded music for film, including Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Precisely because his music crosses cultural and ethnic barriers, in September 2006, the United Nations named Yo-Yo Ma a Messenger of Peace. In short, the name “Yo-Yo Ma” epitomizes an open-minded and all-embracing attitude to music; he is a living icon for dialogue and communication.

Born in France and raised in the United States, Yo-Yo Ma retains much of the humility and reserved nature typical of Chinese ancestry. Amidst diverse cultures, he freely wields his musical creativity as an exemplary “global citizen.” From his perspective, the core value of YMCG is the exchange and melding of cultures East and West. To him, the realization of his artistic ideals in Guangzhou—a major port along the coastal Silk Road—is all the more meaningful. Yo-Yo Ma, a man with a treasure-trove of artistic experience and at the pinnacle of international fame, will inject his diverse and innovative artistic concepts into shaping YMCG.

Eminent artists establish an open and all-embracing international platform

Artists engaged for the inaugural YMCG include core members of the Silk Road Ensemble and principals of major American orchestras. Some people have posed the following question: with Yo-Yo Ma’s celebrity status and the world-class orchestras that engage him, why would he devote so much energy to the Silk Road Ensemble? To Ma, the Silk Road is a symbol of how different cultures connect. In other words, the Silk Road Project is akin to a “cultural laboratory” that extends and expands our imagination and our embrace of the world.

Yo-Yo Ma also explained his personal selection of instructors—each with a unique global vision—for the inaugural YMCG. For example, New York Philharmonic principal oboe Liang Wang was born in China in the 1980s. Wang had served as principal oboe for a number of renowned orchestras before joining the New York Philharmonic. At present, he is the only Chinese-born principal wind player in one of the world’s top orchestras. Also, Ma could not contain his enthusiastic praise for Mike Block: “An artist who is far more creative than me! And he plays music from around the world. You’ll see him leading a dozen players improvising without any written score, which is fantastic!”

The team of instructors assembled for Guangzhou spans different instruments and different areas of expertise, but they are all leaders in their respective musical or educational fields. All of them are at the forefront of cross-cultural communication, daring to break through traditions, reveling in their ability to meld differences. More importantly, these instructors are all highly creative artists, which is why Yo-Yo Ma invited them to Guangzhou. They are normally based in Europe, America, West Asia and China. In Guangzhou, they will spark creative ideas with young musicians from different locations too. Although instructors and participants stem from different backgrounds, they gather to make new music, to add even more depth and breadth in their communication and exchange and to generate even more possibilities in understanding the diverse cultures behind the music.

Currently, the Chinese government is pursuing a “One Belt One Road” strategy, and culture is the foundation of all exchange and co-operation. Among the many cultural and artistic genres, music truly exists without borders, and the team of international instructors assembled by Yo-Yo Ma will dedicate themselves in building bridges to connect countries and regions on the cultural front. Ultimately, diversity engenders exchange, exchange nurtures fusion, and fusion leads to progress.

Focus on the younger generation nationwide and abroad who are keen to engage

The YMCG festival is focused on the younger generation, sharing musical skills as well as encouraging personal growth. Participants not only deepen their knowledge of classical music through exposure to different styles of music, but also learn to be open and flexible in their approach. The main vehicle to put the philosophies of the festival into practice is the YMCG Orchestra—comprising musicians under the age of 35. This ensemble, specially set up for the festival, promises to be filled with vitality, befitting the energy of Guangdong province at the forefront of China’s reform and open-door policy. Here, friendships will be made through music and a large, extended family will be fostered by cultural fusion and exchange. American conductor Michael Stern will serve as Music Director of the inaugural YMCG Orchestra.

Following the suggestion of Yo-Yo Ma, the inaugural YMCG festival is open to young musicians of Chinese descent from around the globe. It is Ma’s wish that this new festival taking place in China begins with a gathering of Chinese musicians. Future YMCGs will shift their emphasis on Asia-Pacific countries such as Japan, Korea and Australia.

Since the official announcement of the YMCG Orchestra in October, we have attracted more than 600 applicants from nearly 100 conservatories, arts organizations and professional institutions across three continents. These applicants are based in America (New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Cincinnati), Canada (Vancouver, Fredericton), Germany (Berlin, Dresden, Nuremberg, Münster), England (London, Birmingham), Moscow, Vienna, Singapore, and such Chinese cities as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Urumqi, Lhasa, Hohhot, Hangzhou, Xian, Kunming and Qingdao, as well as Hong Kong, Macao, Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung. Also on the list are applicants from the host city—young musicians from the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra. An artistic committee led by Yo-Yo Ma will select 80 musicians to participate in the inaugural festival, with the hope of including musicians from as many cities and countries.

The team of instructors led by Yo-Yo Ma will work with the YMCG Orchestra during the festival, establishing creative exchanges and conducting inspiring rehearsals; they will participate in “Music + Dialogue” sessions and concerts together. It is Yo-Yo Ma’s wish that participants will not only have a wonderful musical experience but also be inspired by new technical skills and fired by new ideas.

Working closely with Yo-Yo Ma is conductor Jing Huan, who, as a representative of China, was elected to serve on the executive committee of Jeunesses Musicales International last July. She looks forward to YMCG, because this festival isn’t just about individual and ensemble coaching, improvisation or “Music + Dialogue” sessions. “Today, classical music is no longer limited to modes of the past. Improvisation is probably unknown to many young Chinese musicians. How do young musicians in the future ‘play music’?” Artistic Director Yo-Yo Ma also hopes that these young musicians can ponder three core issues—content (how to understand music), communication, and reception (whose needs does music meet)—answers to these philosophical questions will provide benefits for a lifetime.

Helping Guangdong Province further its position in culture and the arts

Standing at the forefront of China’s economic reforms for three decades, Guangdong Province has made significant contributions to the growth of the overall Chinese economy. But while urban centers enjoy rapid economic growth, progress in cultural life is a challenge that the whole world must face.

When devising the program for YMCG, Artistic Director Yo-Yo Ma emphasizes “the power of culture.” From his perspective, music, sciences and the arts all form the core of culture, which is society’s tool to discover truths, establish trust and share meanings. When people perform, sing, write or ruminate, not only are they creating something beautiful with their knowledge, but they are also searching for solutions as we all confront the future.

The main activities and performances of the inaugural YMCG will take place in the state-of-the-art facilities of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra (1 Haishan Street, Ersha Island, Guangzhou) and Xinghai Concert Hall, which has been renowned as the hall built by the Chinese with the best acoustics. There will also be a multi-function “music tent” set up on the lawn outside the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra’s headquarters. Many Guangzhou natives have fond memories of this site that has long infused their lives with music: outdoor concerts, concerts on the lawn, choruses of a thousand have all been held there. The “music tent” will be used this January as a student and media center during the day, but it will transform into an unconventional performance space in the evenings, including “Music + Dialogue” sessions devised by Yo-Yo Ma. Not only will Ma and the instructors gather to discuss music, culture and art, but they will engage the audience to connect these issues and to search for answers, using our imagination as a “key” to open the doors not only to art but to the entire world.

YMCG gathers resources from around the world. It is a symbol of how Guangdong Province is fostering cultural development. Plans are underway for YMCG to take place on an annual basis.

Concert Details:

Youth Music Culture Guangdong (YMCG) 2017—Jing Huan, GSO and GSYO
January 7, 2017
20:00
Xinghai Concert Hall

Performers: Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, Guangzhou Symphony Youth Orchestra
Conductor: Jing Huan
Cello: Mike Block
Sheng: Wu Tong

Program:
Tan Dun                     Passacaglia: Secret of Wind and Birds
Zhao Lin                    Duo (for cello, sheng and orchestra) (GSO co-commission, 2011)
Ottorino Respighi     Pines of Rome

 Youth Music Culture Guangdong (YMCG) 2017—Yo-Yo Ma and Michael Stern
January 15, 2017
20:00
Xinghai Concert Hall

Performers: YMCG Orchestra
Conductor: Michael Stern
Cello: Yo-Yo Ma

Program:
Maurice Ravel                 Valses nobles et sentimentales
Ludwig van Beethoven     Symphony No. 8 in F Major
Antonin Dvořák              Cello Concerto in B minor (2nd and 3rd movements)
Igor Stravinsky               Firebird Suite (1919)

Youth Music Culture Guangdong (YMCG) launches in 2017 with renowned musician Yo-Yo Ma as Artistic Director

After nearly two years of planning, the Youth Music Culture Guangdong (YMCG) will launch in January 2017. Presented by the Guangdong Provincial Department of Culture, YMCG is organized by the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra (GSO) and the Xinghai Concert Hall. This unique and meaningful project will become an annual highlight in China in years to come. In fact, the YMCG follows the footsteps of major musical and cultural events in Guangdong province over the past decade, including the Canton International Summer Music Academy (2005–2007) and the Canton Asian Music Festival (2010) that had shown the region’s potential to reach out to the world. The YMCG’s Artistic Director is none other than internationally renowned artist Yo-Yo Ma, who accepted the invitation by GSO’s Music Director Maestro Long Yu to lead this meaningful and multi-faceted project.

A world-famous musician and an old friend of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, Yo-Yo Ma made his GSO debut in 2010 in the closing concert of the Canton Asian Music Festival under the baton of Maestro Long Yu and has since returned twice to perform with the orchestra. Mr. Ma has an unrivalled depth and breadth of artistic experience, and is among the most revered artists in the world today. With his versatility and all-embracing visionary zeal, the YMCG will bear the imprint of his unique ideas on the arts and beyond. The inaugural YMCG will surely launch on a high note.

The inaugural YMCG, scheduled between January 7 and 20, 2017, entails the founding of a youth orchestra comprised of young musicians and students under age 35 from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, brought together through by audition or invitation, working together during the two-week project. Celebrated American conductor Michael Stern will serve as the orchestra’s Music Director and Conductor. The orchestra will be coached by a distinguished 12-member faculty, each personally selected by Mr. Yo-Yo Ma. Faculty members include Lynn Chang, Mike Block, Liang Wang, Kinan Azmeh, Joseph Gramley, Tina Blythe, Reylon Yount and Wu Tong, among others. The YMCG Orchestra is founded on the overriding principle of gathering people from diverse backgrounds and fostering meaningful interaction. There will be a series of public activities in Guangzhou from January 7 to January 15. Orchestra members participate not only in performances, master classes, seminars and cultural exchange, but also extend their engagement beyond classical music into broader cultural spheres. Most performances will offer tickets to the public at low prices; some will even be free of charge. A brief tour of Hong Kong and Macao is also scheduled for the YMCG Orchestra during the project’s second week.

Artistic Director Yo-Yo Ma shared his thoughts on the YMCG’s missions and goals: “Music—like the other arts, humanities, and sciences—is at the heart of culture. And culture is the tool that our society uses to discover truth, create trust, and share meaning. When humans play, or sing, or write, or explore, we not only create beauty and knowledge, but we also help to develop solutions to our greatest challenges. I believe that any musician or artist should not only be technically proficient, but also be mindful of the power of their art and the need for it in their world. It is with this in mind that I invite people to participate in the first YMCG. Hosted by the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra and staffed by faculty from around the world, this seminar aims to create trust and connect young musicians from China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. Our curriculum will address both musicianship and citizenship. It will be led by a distinguished group of faculty drawn from the worlds of music and education—from the Silk Road Ensemble to Harvard University and elsewhere. It will deepen the participants’ understanding of classical style, develop flexible thinking through participation in different genres of music, and ask them to practice core artistic values such as curiosity, connection, and collaboration. When combined with discussion of how music can respond to the needs of others, we hope that this approach will create powerful, memorable moments that will encourage empathy, hope, and understanding. We hope that the YMCG will leave participants not only with a wonderful musical experience, but also with new skills and inspirations about the powerful role that music and musicians can play in our increasingly complex 21st-century world.” Yo-Yo Ma hopes young musicians who participate in the YMCG project can ponder three core issues—Content (“How to understand music?”), Communication and Reception (“Whose need does music meet? Yourself, the audience or the composer?”). Answers to these philosophical questions will provide benefits for a lifetime.

According to YMCG project organizers, up to now, no other music festival in mainland China has been founded on addressing young people on an international level. Guangdong province has always been a pioneer on many fronts throughout history, and the founding of YMCG this year is most timely. Not only does the province enjoy one of the country’s strongest economies, but its cultural foundation and global connections are also enviable. Guangzhou ranks among China’s first-tier cities and enjoys one of the longest histories as a port open for foreign trade; it has been a business center in the region for more than a millennium. Guangzhou is also a major city along the coastal Silk Road with a deep and rich cultural heritage. The YMCG will open a door through which people can see both outside and inside China. As an annual arts and cultural project, the YMCG will provide a veritable platform for deepening understanding, increasing trust, and fostering cultural interaction among young people