On the office walls of the world-famous symphony orchestra New York Philharmonic are photographs of many musical artists — Maurice Ravel, Richard Strauss, Charles Minch, Eugene Omani, George Salty, James Levine, Valery Gergiev, Ricardo Shay, Gustav Dudamel... Each of these musical artists, from romanticism to impressionism to the present, is a musician who can tell the story like a family treasure and sway his mind at all times for his moving melodies.
Among the many blonde masters, Yu Long, a Chinese conductor holding a baton and immersed in moving music, could not help but let the guests who walked into the orchestra's office pay more attention to and even pay more respect to the oriental man standing side by side with many masters on the wall. In it, Yu Long's feelings are simple and sincere, just like his frank voice: "Many of them are masters that I admire very much, and it is the greatest honor of my life to be there with them!" ”
In fact, this is not just the pride of Yu Long alone.
Strong photography
Long march
Lovers familiar with the artists on the wall know that these music masters are the silver shining stars in the night sky of world music, from the Alps to the Rocky Mountains, from the Baikal lake to the Amazon River, they are singers and pride of different countries and nationalities, when they stand on the world's highest music stage, they can still hear the songs of their mothers from the melodies of those who have dumped countless music lovers.
For Yu Long, that song was first heard from his grandfather.
One night in the summer of 2014, with the China Philharmonic Orchestra about to stage the closing concert of this year's music season in a few days, together with its artistic director Long Yu and its fans, ushered in the climax of joy, excitement, satisfaction and perseverance that only existed at the end of the music season - Yu Long and Lang Lang, Tan Dun, Wen Gelov, Wang Jian, Chen Qigang, Alison Balson and other world-famous musicians, joined hands with the China Philharmonic Orchestra to perform the "Yu Long and His Friends" concert.
That night, the rain in Beijing was pouring, the audience was immersed in the moving melody of the Poly Theater's undulating waves and the unsentimental applause and laughter, and the soft lights on the stage were as brilliant as the morning sun.
Even fans who know and love Yu Long, even his friends, or Yu Long himself, it is difficult to say that this is the first few concerts he has performed.
50 years ago, Yu Long was born in a musical family in Shanghai, and in the dark, he was doomed to the indissoluble relationship between his life and music. His maternal grandfather, the famous composer Ding Shande, carefully instructed two young talents of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, He Zhanhao and Chen Gang, to compose the popular violin concerto "Liang Zhu", and in his study, he was Yu Long's life and music enlightenment teacher.
Fifty years after the Spring and Autumn Period, Yu Long is already a chinese musician with outstanding achievements on the world music stage, looking back at his life and musical path, his words are full of nostalgia and gratitude——
"Every time I go to the tomb of my grandfather and grandmother, my eyes appear in front of my eyes and smiles, and my heart is full of deep gratitude to them. They did everything for me. My knowledge, understanding and love of music come more from my grandfather, and I will always miss those beautiful and happy times spent with my grandfather. My grandfather was one of the kindest elders and a patient, great teacher. ”
At the age of 28, Long Yu conducted the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra in Germany and began his career on the international music stage. At that time, he had just embarked on the road of returning to the music of the motherland, served as the permanent conductor of the Central Opera House, founded the first Beijing New Year Concert and served as a conductor for three consecutive years, setting a precedent for the Performance of new Year Concerts in China.
The following year, Yu Long recorded his grandfather's symphony "Long March" overseas to pay tribute to his greatest teacher. For him, all this is like a prelude to his long march of music.
Creating and conducting the annual Beijing New Year's Concert, for Yu Long, was only his first hike when he was a fledgling, his outstanding conducting and artistic management talents were beginning to emerge, he led countless Chinese music fans to a highland they had never seen before, and everyone began to look forward to following him to climb higher mountains and listen to more moving songs of the earth.
Many music fans have known Yu Long from the unique way of music performance in the Beijing New Year Concert. More than twenty years later, a veteran music critic vividly remembers that when he was invited to a New Year's concert with several of his colleagues, his strong desire to know Yu Long even exceeded his expectations for the New Year's concert for the first time, and everyone excitedly talked about this young conductor who had never met, and even his name was the first time he had heard of it - his name was Yu Long, he was only twenty-eight years old, he had conducted the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, he had just returned from Germany...
The joy of the Beijing New Year Concert opening up a precedent for performances on China's music stage did not dilute Yu Long's obsession with opera conducting, and the gentle melody of the New Year's Concert was still lingering, but he had turned a new page in the movement of his life for five consecutive years of conducting opera performances for the Hong Kong Municipal Council.
In the sixth year of his return to China, Yu Long ushered in the thirty-fourth autumn of his life, and the music seeds sown in his heart by the elderly Ding Shande in that year produced sweet fruits in this golden season - the Beijing International Music Festival initiated and founded by Yu Long.
Fans who excitedly walked into the concert hall did not know that this heart-pounding music festival was just a dream hidden in Yu Long's heart that spring. At this moment, listening to the melodies played by internationally renowned orchestras that have only been heard on records, the delightful fans feel as if they are dreaming.
Long Yu, who has been the artistic director since the inception of the Beijing International Music Festival, has put his outstanding conducting and artistic management talents to the fullest. Under his leadership, the Beijing International Music Festival has become a cultural business card handed to the world by Beijing.
For more than a decade, world-famous orchestras and opera houses such as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the La Fenice Opera in Venice, and the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg have successively appeared on the Beijing stage in the golden autumn.
Long Yu's figure in front of the Beijing International Music Festival is an unforgettable memory moment engraved in the annals of Chinese and world music history.
He flew to New York and warmly invited the world violin master Isaac Stern, who is nearly eighty years old, to revisit Beijing, and together with the 82-year-old conductor li delun who worked with him twenty years ago, he achieved a century of singing that spanned twenty years;
He conducted thousands of Chinese and foreign musicians to perform Mahler's Eighth (Thousand) Symphony, completing the historic Chinese premiere of this masterpiece;
He invited the Nuremberg Opera House in Germany to the stage of the Beijing International Music Festival and performed Wagner's "Ring of the Nibelungen" tetralogy for four consecutive nights, completing the historic premiere of the play in China more than 100 years after its inception;
He invited the young pianist Lang Lang to play ten piano concertos at the 10th Beijing International Music Festival, and at that moment, eight giant screens on New York Times Square were simultaneously playing the wonderful moments of the Beijing International Music Festival, and many pedestrians stopped to watch.
At the Beijing International Music Festival, Yu Long had the unique ability to conduct official performances of foreign orchestras in civilian clothes.
At that time, Japanese conductor Norio Oga conducted the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra at the Poly Theater and suddenly fainted on the podium. Yu Long, who was outside the theater, ran to the stage while handing over his watch and mobile phone to his assistant, and when he hurriedly took Norio Ohga to the hospital, he picked up the baton and said to the orchestra and the audience that had never been conducted before: "Where the music is interrupted, it will start from where it is!" ”
Torch
The first summer of the new century has just arrived, the news of the creation of the China Philharmonic Orchestra is like a refreshing breeze blowing countless philharmonics, although the first concert will not be played until the end of half a year, but countless eager expectations have been as anxious as the summer heat.
Although the musicians of the China Philharmonic Orchestra are no strangers to Yu Long, on the first day of registration for the whole musicians, when they saw Yu Long, who was the artistic director and chief conductor of the orchestra, and his "legendary group" Li Nan, who is now the head of the China Philharmonic Orchestra, he was still surprised that Yu Long, who had set a precedent for the Chinese New Year Concert performance, created the Beijing International Music Festival, and now created and led the China Philharmonic Orchestra, was so young and mature.
That year, Li Nan was 44 years old, and Yu Long was only 36 years old, not yet a year of confusion.
Photo profile picture of the world's music masters on the wall of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra's office
Musicians could never have imagined that more than a decade later, Yu Long would present to the Philharmonic 100 live recordings of the Concerts he heads with the China Philharmonic Orchestra. Including 105 concerts and 100 records of 213 works, it not only marks that Yu Long led the China Philharmonic Orchestra into a mature and stable period of artistic development, but also undoubtedly an epoch-making milestone in the history of the development of Chinese symphony.
In the second year of the China Philharmonic Orchestra's emergence, the orchestra under the leadership of Yu Long took a firm step towards overseas audiences and the international music stage. From touring Taiwan in the fall of that year, to performing at the Casars Festival in Puerto Rico the following summer, and touring the West Coast of the United States in San Jose and Los Angeles, to performing in Tokyo, Kobe, Osaka and Seoul, South Korea in the fall, the China Philharmonic Orchestra has been very popular and has become more confident every time it has been.
And Yu Long, while leading the China Philharmonic Orchestra to a new stage, put his baton on the podium of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra in the eyes of people's expectation and trust. At this time, he began to concurrently serve as the music director of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra.
On the third birthday of the China Philharmonic Orchestra, Yu Long led the China Philharmonic Orchestra and the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra to go to Europe and Africa again, performing in the Paris State Opera, the Warsaw National Theatre, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Champs Elysées Theatre in Paris, the Concert Hall of the Luxembourg Conservatory, the Concert Hall of the Amsterdam Concert Hall in the Netherlands, the Cairo Opera House, and the Alexander Concert Hall, so that music lovers from different countries can appreciate the style of Chinese symphony music.
When the China Philharmonic Orchestra ushered in its fifth season, under the leadership of Yu Long, it embarked on an unprecedented world tour of more than 40 days, spanning North America and Europe, a feat rare among Asian symphony orchestras.
Perhaps, only the musicians remember the ordinary and touching stories behind those glories. At that time, Yu Long "grew out of nowhere" and led the orchestra from Italy to Slovenia to perform, and the car that crossed the border allowed Slovenian music lovers to hear the melody from China for the first time. When I arrived in Italy, there was one less bus to pick up the orchestra at the airport, and the luggage could not be transported. In order to let the musicians rest at the hotel on time, Yu Long stayed at the airport with several orchestra leaders to take care of their luggage, and did not arrive at the hotel with the luggage until six hours later.
Four summers ago, Long Yu conducted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in an open-air concert for 60,000 spectators in New York's Central Park, the first time the historic New York Philharmonic orchestra has performed at the Summer Park Symphony Concert in collaboration with a foreign symphony orchestra. Worryingly, on the day of the show, the weather forecast said it rained in New York 80 percent of the day. But before the concert began, the rain magically stopped, and after the last piece of music, the rain fell again. The next day, the New York Times report on the concert was titled: Let it rain! Of course, after the music...
In 2008, Long Yu conducted the China Philharmonic Orchestra and the Shanghai Opera House Choir to perform Mozart's Requiem for Pope Benedict XVI and more than 8,000 listeners at the Vatican. As an expert in Mozart's music, the first words he said to him when he congratulated Him on the success of the performance were: "I was deeply moved by your Mozart, you played so well, so perfectly!" ”
Before the concert began, Yu Long's speech to the Pope and more than 8,000 listeners made him the first person in Chinese history to speak at the Vatican, which was far more significant than this extraordinary concert, and the British newspaper The Guardian called this historic performance an "ice-breaking" journey between China and the Vatican through music diplomacy.
In 2009, after serving as music director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Yu Long led the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra on a highly successful tour of 12 North American cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, and San Diego, and the New York Times published a special article about Yu Long's artistic achievements, praising him as "China's Herbert von Karajan".
In the spring of the following year, Yu Long led the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra to Poland to participate in the 14th Beethoven Music Festival, and performed in Warsaw and Lodz, which was highly praised by all walks of life. In 2011, he again led the China Philharmonic Orchestra on a tour of more than a dozen cities on the west coast of the United States.
During the Chinese New Year in 2012, Long Yu conducted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra to hold the first Chinese New Year Concert at Fischer Hall in Lincoln Center, New York, allowing music lovers who entered the world music temple to once again appreciate the artistic style of Chinese conductors.
Twenty-six years later, at the invitation of the Beijing International Music Festival, the world-renowned Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra came to Beijing again, and the orchestra's music director, Sir Simon Rattle, insisted that Yu Long speak in front of all the musicians. Yu said that much of his study and work experience in his youth came from listening to the rehearsals of this great orchestra on the spot, studying in Berlin, not so much learning conduct in class, but more accurately, in the rehearsal hall of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Yu Long had the privilege of hearing the instructive rehearsals of famous conductors such as Giulini, Reinsdorf and Karajan with the Berliner Philharmoniker. In the depths of his heart, those unforgettable moments are like an unquenchable torch burning and illuminating him, and he hopes to become such a torch, burning and illuminating more people yearning for human civilization and longing for a beautiful heart.
Spine
During his studies in Germany, Yu Long, as described in Goethe's novel "The Age of Schooling in Wilhelm Mestre", although his life was hard, he always had the sensitive heart of the people of that age and the broad enthusiasm for the things around him, reading in the library every day, chatting with philosophers, dramatists, musicians and painters in cafes.
In the following ten years of conducting career, Yu Long has been conducting operas and symphonies in the Czech Republic, Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and other places for a long time, accumulating a lot of experience. And conducting opera, he has never been alienated or forgotten because he has been conducting symphonies for many years.
Even, while conducting the China Philharmonic Orchestra's performance of the concert opera Carmen, Yu Long made another attempt at his artistic creation— he also directed the opera.
"Most conductors in the world probably won't choose to be their own director when performing opera, not only because the workload will multiply, but more importantly, it means that conductors have to step into an almost entirely new field, bringing new and sometimes great risks, but once successful, there will be exciting effects, because the two huge fields of music and theater will result in a fusion and unified idea." ”
Long Yu's dedication to the concert opera Carmen made his attempt a success and won a warm response.
Yu Long with his maternal grandfather, the famous composer, and the vice president of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Ding Shande
Yu Long is like a musical bridge, bringing the classic masterpieces of many world masters of art to Chinese music lovers, and also presenting excellent Chinese music and art works in front of music lovers around the world. According to careful music fans, the China Philharmonic Orchestra he directed alone has collaborated with nearly 500 Chinese and foreign artists. It is precisely because of the commissions of artistic institutions such as the Beijing International Music Festival, the China Philharmonic Orchestra, the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra that many of the world's masters' commissioned works can make their world premieres on the Chinese music stage.
Long Yu conducted the world premiere of the Chinese version of "Song of the Earth" commissioned by him and the China Philharmonic Orchestra, and toured the world many times, which is a dialogue between Chinese composers and Mahler's "Song of the Earth" across time and space, creating a new history of Chinese music.
Because of his outstanding contributions in promoting the development of classical music in the world today and promoting international cultural exchanges, the German Montblanc Cultural Foundation awarded Yu Long the annual "Montblanc Outstanding Artistic Achievement Award", the French government specially awarded him the "Chevalier de la Légérie des Arts et des Arts de France", and the Italian government awarded him the "Chevalier de la République".
At the end of the year, when he was hailed by The New York Times as "China's Herbert von Karajan," Yu began serving as vice president of the Chinese Musicians Association. At the meeting to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Institute, the Central Conservatory of Music awarded him the title of "Honorary Academician" for the first time by the domestic art university. In 2013, Long Yu was awarded the China Art Award, the highest art award sponsored by the China Academy of Arts, a state-level academic institution.
In the eyes of his mentor Professor Huang Xiaotong, Yu Long is a knight who pursues excellence. "Yu Long had the courage and courage to create the China Philharmonic Orchestra in a difficult situation. I worriedly reminded him that "the commander-in-chief of the three armed forces" and "the downfall is extremely easy", but he succeeded, the fifth anniversary, the tenth anniversary, and finally joined the forest of the world and was in line with the international community. The efficiency and experience of the operation allowed him to pick three large groups, and he leapt from a single music conductor to a builder, innovator, pioneer of the orchestra, and a new conductor of the social organization type. He did not pretend to be effacing, but was relieved by the expectations of the people. He became the backbone of today's Chinese conductors. ”
Looking back on the past musical years, Yu Long sighed deeply: "In the past few years, together with the Beijing International Music Festival, the China Philharmonic Orchestra, the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, I have created many brilliant achievements, covering many countries. While all of this also brings me a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, what I love more is winning a new future. Goethe's Faust lamented that the most beautiful moments of life can not be stopped, so why not create and welcome new wonderful moments? Those who have realized the past can be traced. ”
The closing concert of the annual music season of the China Philharmonic Orchestra has just ended, and on the stage of the "Proms Music Festival" held at the Royal Albert Hall in London, the figure of the Chinese orchestra appeared for the first time - Yu Long led the China Philharmonic Orchestra to play the moving melody of Chinese and foreign music classics.
From summer to autumn, the Beijing International Music Festival, in which Yu Long participated in the creation and artistic director, opened the golden curtain for the seventeenth time in the eyes of countless music lovers.
At the beginning of winter, Long Yu, along with Grammy Chairman Neil Portno, took the stage of a concert for young Chinese musicians, and the Beijing International Music Festival Art Foundation and the National Society of Recording and Science of the United States played a historic overture to the collaboration.
Someone asked, where does Yu Long, who is the director of five orchestras at the same time, have time to read the score, and how the melody of each orchestra he conducts on the podium is deeply engraved in his mind? Yu Long said: "When Karajan was asked if he was too busy, he replied: "The time that belongs to me personally is far more than others think, and there is precious peace in the journey, which is the ideal time for reading the score." ”
If you understand that Yu Long is like a golden time outside of music, it is not difficult to imagine his calmness when reading the score in tranquility. Once, an art magazine and Yu Long agreed to go to the orchestra to take cover photos, a morning of band rehearsals, he was not distracted, at noon, he still had busy official duties, had to wait until the afternoon, the afternoon rehearsal of a short break is not convenient to bother. Until the end of the rehearsal, Yu Long stood in front of the podium for a few more minutes, hurriedly took pictures, and then walked into the orchestra conference room waiting for him.
On the wall of Yu Long's office hangs a painting written to him by the music master Li Delun from the words of the ancient sages: Musicians, the joys of saints, and can be kind to the hearts of the people, its touching depths, its changing customs...
Whenever he read it on the wall, Yu Long often thought about it and realized it. Those who have realized the past can be traced.
Yu Long sees each day as a new prelude to the movement of life, a new movement, which is beginning in his continuous contemplation, trek and creation.