Hailed by The New York Times
as “the most powerful figure in China’s classical music scene,” the conductor
and impresario Long Yu has devoted his illustrious career to steering China’s
growing connection to classical music. Maestro Yu currently holds the top
position in the country’s most prominent orchestras: Artistic Director of the
China Philharmonic Orchestra in Beijing, and Music Director of the Shanghai
Symphony Orchestra. He is also the Principal Guest Conductor of the Hong Kong
Philharmonic Orchestra, co-director of Shanghai’s Music in the Summer Air
festival, and Chair of the Artistic Committee of the Beijing Music Festival. He
is currently Vice President of the China Musicians Association and Chairman of
its League of China Orchestras.
One of many career highlights, in 2005
Yu led the China Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) on a 40-day international tour in 22 cities
throughout North America and Europe. He also led the CPO in the first
Chinese orchestral performance at the Vatican’s Paul VI Auditorium in 2008, and
the BBC Proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall
in 2014.
Since taking the reins of the Shanghai Symphony
Orchestra (SSO) in 2009, Yu has led the orchestra on a tour of the
United States and Europe, with performances at the BBC Proms and Amsterdam’s
Concertgebouw as well as the Edinburgh, Lucerne and Ravinia festivals. In 2018,
he became the first Chinese conductor to sign an exclusive relationship with
Deutsche Grammophon, offering the SSO a global release and distribution
partnership, and leading to the
recording releases of Orff: Carmina
Burana (Live From the Forbidden City) (January 2019), Gateways (June 2019), The
Song of the Earth (July 2021) and Aaron
Zigman: Émigré (June 2024).
As Music Director of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra (GSO) from 2003 to
2023, Yu expanded the orchestra’s repertory, its educational mission, and its
touring—to Europe, the U.S., Australia, Africa, and the Middle East. After 20
years at the helm, Maestro Yu stepped down as Music Director of GSO in 2023 and
is now Honorary Music Director for Life and the Chair of the Artistic Committee
of GSO and YMCG (Youth Music Culture The Greater Bay Area).
Also a towering figure on the international stage, Maestro Yu has
conducted many highly acclaimed orchestras throughout the world, including the
New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los
Angeles Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Bamberg
Symphony Orchestra, Staatsoper Hamburg, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, NDR
Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, BBC
Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, and Singapore
Symphony Orchestra.
Yu has received
numerous prestigious awards and recognitions, including the 2010 Person of the
Year in the Arts Field, the 2013 China Arts Award, an Honorary Academician from
the Central Conservatory of Music, the Arts Patronage Award of the Montblanc
Cultural Foundation; Chevalier dans
L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres; L’onorificenza
diCommendatore dell’Ordine al Merito, from the Italian government; Légion d’Honneur, France’s highest order
of merit; the Global Citizen Award from the Atlantic Council; and the Samuel
Simons Sanford Award from the Yale School of Music. In 2016, Yu was elected a
Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and
awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2018, he was
conferred an Honorary Doctorate from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.