France honours Chinese conductor
OrchestrasThe French Ministry of Culture has bestowed the Order of Arts and Letters on conductor Xu Zhong, head of the Shanghai Opera House.
Xu Zhong, 55, is former artistic director of Teatro Massimo Bellini in Italy and presently chief conductor of the Haifa Symphony Orchestra in Israel.
The honour was bestowed in Shanghai by the French consul-general.
Congrats to him, but he is no longer at the Haifa Symphony, having been succeeded by Yoel Levi.
Since none of his affiliations have anything to do with France, I became a bit curious… Turns out that he studied piano in Paris and has conducted quite a number of French opera houses and orchestras. Also, the connection with Haifa apparently ended in 2019.