Long Yu and the China Philharmonic Travel the Silk Road

From Athens to Tehran, the China Philharmonic 'builds a cultural bridge' across six countries that recreates the famous Silk Road trade route from China - and plays Dvorak's New World Symphony in Tehran.

In the second half of 2013, China's President Xi Jinping annnounced the "One Belt and One Road" initiative; a refocusing on the ancient Silk Road trade route. The world was very different in those days, and yet, the people and their response to music never changes.

Now, some two years in the planning, the China Philharmonic Orchestra under their music director Long Yu have toured this path of the old world, and are reaching out through music.

The tour, which reaches its final destination tomorrow, August 19th, included the following stops:

Tajikstan National Theater, Dushanbe,, Tajikstan (Aug 6th)
Kyrgyzstan Philharmonic Hall, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (Aug 8th)
Kurmangazy Kazakh National Conservatory, Almaty, Kazakhstan (Aug 10th)
Iran Vahdat Hall, Tehran, Iran (Aug 13th, 14th)
Zorhu Center, Istannbul, Turkey (Aug 16th)
Herodes Atticus Oden, Athens, Greece (Aug 19th)

Although the recent P5+1 agreement with Iran has been much in the news - as for that matter has the Greek economic situation and international relationships - this first visit to Tehran by an orchestra from one of those negotiating nations is not about politics. It is about culture reaching across boundaries. That, says Maestro Long Yu, is how progress is so often achieved:

"Throughout history, music and the arts have brought people together," he says, "often long before political diplomacy could succeed, culture has brought about facts on the ground. And those facts are, that music reminds us all that we sing and we listen and we play with one spirit. Because we are all human. And it is the human condition to feel music in our hearts. This tour across the Silk Road trade route has worked on for several years and we in the China Philharmonic Orchestra hope that we can build a cultural bridge that stretches across the region and indeed across the world, that will bring people closer together at a level that can inspire them to make this world truly harmonious."

Particularly noteworthy, perhaps, is the fact that for the Tehran concerts, Long Yu conducted Dvorak's New World Symphony (inspired by the composer's impressions of America) using an historical edition of the score provided to him by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

Composers featured in the tour have included Borodin, Dvorak, Tchaikovsly and Zhanhao He and Gang Chen. Other artists also featured included Maestros Xia Xiaotang (Principal Conductor of the CPO) and Ali Alexander Rahbari and the violinist Cheng Zeng.

The China Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in Beijing on May 25, 2000, under founding and current artistic director Long Yu. It has since toured many countries, notably in 2005 playing more than 20 cities in seven European and North American countries.

In 2008 it was the first Chinese orchestra to ever play in the Vatican, for Pope Benedict XVI, while in 2014 it became the first Chinese orchestra to ever play the BBC Proms in London. Previously, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Mozart, it was the only Chinese orchestra to join an international televised musical tribute that also featured the Vienna Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Czech Philharmonic. It has given many world premiers and hosted the world's leading musicians.

Maestro Long Yu is the Artistic Director, Chief Conductor and co-founder of the China Philharmonic Orchestra, and Music Director of the Shanghai and Guanzhou Symphony Orchestras. He is also Founding Artistic Director of the Beijing Music Festival, co-founder of the Shanghai MISA Festival and Principal Guest Conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.

He also helped spearhead the establishment of the New York Philharmonic's Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Residency Partnership - a joint endeavour of the New York Philharmonic and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra - that included the founding of the Shanghai Orchestra Academy (SOA), which opened in September 2014, and the Philharmonic's four-year performance residency in Shanghai.

Other China 'firsts' include bringing the first-ever performances of Wagner's Ring cycle in the country, presenting its first-ever Mahler cycle, releasing the first album of Chinese music on a major recording label (Dragon Songs, alongside Lang Lang and the China Philharmonic Orchestra, for DG), and bringing the first-ever Chinese orchestra to play at the Vatican (see above), before an audeince of 8,000. Last year, he led the China Philharmonic as the first Chinese orchestra ever invited to play at the BBC Proms. The Shanghai Symphony under his baton was the first orchestra other than the New York Philharmonic to perform on Central Park's Great Lawn.

He has commissioned new works from many of today's leading composers, among them Tan Dun, Krzystof Penderecki, Philip Glass, John Corigliano, Guo Wenjing and Ye Xiaogang.

He was recently awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur from the French government, only the third Chinese national ever to receive it. This award marked a highlight of an impressive 2014 season for Maestro Long Yu. In July 2014, star-studded concerts in Shanghai and Beijing coincided with his 50th birthday, and colleagues including Lang Lang, Alison Balsom and Maxim Vengerov performed, with new works composed by Tan Dun, Qigang Chen and John Williams. At the same time, he led the Shanghai Symphony into their new home, a state-of-the-art venue built mostly underground, acoustically designed by Yasuhisa Toyota.

Long Yu regularly conducts important orchestras and opera houses in the West such as the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Chicago Symphony, BBC Symphony, Teatro La Fenice, Hamburg Staatsoper and Philadelphia Orchestra. He was previously honored to be appointed a Chavelier dans L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France, and a L'onorificenza di commendatore from the Republic of Italy.

Pictured: Long Yu with the China Philharmonic in Tehran

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