China’s Karajan passes on a baton
mainLong Yu has given up his artistic directorship of the Beijing Music Festival to Shuang Zou, a member of his planning team.
Long Yu remains artistic director of the China Philharmonic Orchestra, music director of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, co-director of MISA Shanghai Summer Festival and principal guest conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic.
From his statement: Starting today, I will officially step down as the Artistic Director of BMF. Ms. Zou Shuang, currently the assistant Programing Director of BMF, will formally serve as the Artistic Director for the 21st Beijing Music Festival in 2018. In the future, the Artistic Director will serve on a rotational basis for a term of x years. In the future, I will continue serving as the Chairman of the Artistic Committee. I, along with the other Artistic Committee members and the BMF team, will give our full support to the new Artistic Director. As part of the BMF team, I will serve the BMF for my entire life, and spare no effort!
We forget too easily how unimaginable any of these organisations were in the era of the murderous psychopath Mao. So many of the intelligentsia were of course great fans of his. As Orwell so neatly put it, some things are so stupid only intellectuals would believe them.
If he is the Chinese Karajan, then he must be a great opera conductor and a great Brucknerian. Is he?
He was born in Salzburg as well. Chinese Salzburg.
Well said, Petros.
The introduction omits mention of his also being Music Director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. But China’s Karajan he certainly is not. He is an entrepreneur and an average to slightly better-than-average conductor with impeccable political connections. Without these he could never have founded the huge China Philharmonic or managed to get the Shanghai Symphony to a size where it boasts 70 strings. Equally funds have been made available for him to engage guest conductors such as Kurt Masur and Riccardo Muti, and to take the Shanghai orchestra to Carnegie Hall and the Berlin Philharmonie.
Or shall we say, Karajan is “Austria’s Long Yu”?
No, let’s not.
I have heard more the one concert lover ask “Who’s Yu?”