Youth orchestra sets the tone

"It's a dream for many young musicians to perform at the Verbier Festival, and I am very proud that these young people of the Guangzhou Symphony Youth Orchestra made it even before they decided to launch their music careers," says Jing, the orchestra's current music director and principal conductor. "We had a very tight schedule because those young people, most of them still in school, were busy preparing for their exams. We started our rehearsals in early July and frankly, I was not very sure if they were ready. But I am very surprised by their performances, which were totally beyond my expectation."

Jing notes that one of the music works, Metropolis, commissioned by the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra in 2022 celebrating the orchestra's 65th anniversary, was inspired by a poem titled Remembering a Thousand Years of Yue from the Tang Dynasty (618-907), describing the metropolitan city of Guangzhou. It explores the intersection between cultures, reflecting the composer's own upbringing.

"Though the audience at the Verbier Festival may not be familiar with that music piece, their reaction was great, which encouraged our young members," says Jing, adding that the orchestra has interpreted the piece very well, as many of the members were born and raised in Guangzhou, allowing them to express their love for their home through the music.

Founded in July 2011, the Guangzhou Symphony Youth Orchestra is the first-ever youth orchestra in China organized and administered by a professional orchestra. Since its stage debut in 2012, the ensemble has performed more than 100 concerts at home and abroad. It was invited in 2015 by the Young Euro Classic Festival — one of the world's most important platforms for young international orchestras — to perform two concerts in Frankfurt and Berlin. In July 2021, marking its 10th anniversary, the orchestra launched its first China tour. Though the orchestra's members are very young, they've worked with many established musicians, such as conductor Yu Long, composer and conductor Tan Dun, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Chen Sa.