‘More than music’: China’s YMCG turns over a new leaf

My trip to the Chinese capital in October – which brought me to the capital for the Beijing Music Festival – well and truly whet my appetite for further discoveries within the country’s classical music scene so I jumped at the opportunity to continue my explorations in East Asia in 2024. I travelled to South China’s Guangdong Province for a series of concerts given by talented youngsters as part of YMCG (Youth Music Culture The Greater Bay Area), the annual ‘symphonic learning and experience programme’ and festival which forms a vital part of music education for young musicians in China. This year, the focus was firmly on youth and mentoring, as the YCMG embarks on a fresh chapter, with the arrival of new music director Daniel Harding – and an entirely new faculty.

The goal ‘will always be to provide opportunities for young musicians in China, in Asia, to work with great musicians. We want participants to go away and spread the word' (Image courtesy of YMCG)

The list of faculty members, trusted teachers and mentors, is long and impressive, offering a unique experience within China. They include: Lorraine Campet, double-bass (co-principal with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France from 2015 to 22), Fabien Thouand (whose experience includes periods as principal oboe at St Cecilia and La Scala), Christopher Parkes (solo horn with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra), Jonathan Reith (principal trombone with Orchestre de Paris) and Gareth Davies (flute with London Symphony Orchestra). Each one gave their all, whether mentoring chamber groups or supporting Harding in rehearsal.

Described on its website as ‘an open and all-embracing international platform,’ YMCG began in 2017, presented by the Guangdong Provincial Department of Culture, co-organised by Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra and Xinghai Concert Hall. The main showcase of this annual gathering is the YMCG Symphony Orchestra, comprising young musicians from all over China – and abroad – of Chinese descent. Chen Qing, director of the YMCG Executive Committee and president of Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, says the goal ‘will always be to provide opportunities for young musicians in China, in Asia, to work with great musicians. We want participants to go away and spread the word. It’s culture, more than music.’

YMCG was founded by Long Yu (pictured below), who to this day serves as chairman of the festival’s Artistic Committee. This year, conductor Daniel Harding takes over from Yo-Yo Ma as artistic director (contracted until 2028). Also from 2024, YMCG is co-organised by five music institutions in the Greater Bay Area: the Guangzhou Symphony, Xinghai Concert Hall, Shenzhen Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic and the Macao Orchestra, and has been renamed from ‘Youth Music and Culture Guangdong’ to ‘Youth and Music Culture The Greater Bay Area’ (although the acronym remains the same).

Daniel Harding: ‘Long Yu has repertoire ideas that are incredibly ambitious, and I like that. We hope the buzz from this year will spread the word and enlarge the pool of applicants.’ (Image courtesy of YMCG)

Yu’s enthusiasm is infectious. ‘The most important thing is what we can bring to society artistically today,’ he says. ‘Not just Western music, but the most interesting contemporary Chinese music. Arts and musicians are the best ambassadors to bring everything together.’ Chamber music is a vital part of that. ‘Everyone should learn how to listen, even husband and wife. For me personally, it is very important to support the young generation. They are the future.’

The new artistic director, Daniel Harding, has a distinguished history (Yu described Harding as, simply, ‘a Wunderkind, a genius’). He will also be taking over at Rome’s Santa Cecilia from October 2024; and he is unique in enjoying a dual life as an airline pilot for Air France. He is also keen to place emphasis on the importance of chamber music within the YMCG experience. ‘Those were the moments when the kids came out of their shells, where they built a close bond with their coaches, and where they show their personality.’  Vitally, Harding says, ‘the students need to know it’s OK to fail’.

As far as plans moving forward are concerned, Harding says, ‘Long Yu has repertoire ideas that are incredibly ambitious, and I like that. We hope the buzz from this year will spread the word and enlarge the pool of applicants.’ I do have to ask, though, whether Harding would encourage the daring he himself exhibited when, aged 17, he sent a recording of his 1992 performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire to Simon Rattle? ‘I think if someone’s going to play music, they have to put themselves out there,’ he ripostes.

The new piece at this year’s edition is by Hong Kong native Elliot Leung. Aureate Skylines is a commission from the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra. ‘Aureate’, meaning golden, can also refer to ‘highly ornamented,’ and Leung confirms there is a definite play on that in his work. ‘They wanted me to write something about the Greater Bay. People fill the buildings; the interaction of cultures, that’s the ornamentation for me’. Leung’s score is vibrant, using timbre as a structural component, and the YMCG orchestra triumphed in its performance, particularly in the Shenzhen concert. The use of the dizi (a Chinese transverse bamboo flute) and the suona (a double-reed, ‘blasting, loud instrument’) is apt, while a cor anglais pays homage to the Dvořák 9 in the concerts’ second half.

Ruifeng Lin : ‘YMCG is unique not only because of the great faculty and conductors, but also because I get to meet young musicians from all over the world. Differences between style and culture can melt together.’

The orchestra works with soloists at the highest level: noted violinist Vilde Frang and violist Amihai Grosz (founding member of the Jerusalem Quartet and principal viola of the Berlin Philharmonic, playing a 1570 Gasparo de Salò). The rehearsals revealed instant connection, resulting in ever-fresh performances; Harding is the perfect collaborator, clear and inspirational.

It was fascinating to talk to a couple of this year’s participants. Ruifeng Lin (who played the Brahms in the YMCG 2024 opening concert) is the leader of the orchestra and currently at graduate school in Shanghai. ‘YMCG is unique not only because of the great faculty and conductors, but also because I get to meet young musicians from all over the world. Differences between style and culture can melt together.’

Horn player Luoxian He, currently of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago (the training orchestra of the Chicago Symphony), says. ‘It’s great to be home – I was born in Guangzhou’. He played principal in the whole concert and exuded confidence. As to what this festival offers that others don’t: ‘The faculty, it’s nowhere to be matched. YMCG might be on the same level as Aspen and Tanglewood in the future’.

The actual concerts in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong were of a high standard, with the Shenzhen event offering the most consistent excellence. The final word should go to Daniel Harding: ‘The progress has been phenomenal, and in the end that’s how you judge a project like this’.