Conducting in the fast lane

Charles Dutoit and the National Youth Orchestra of the USA stage a concert in Beijing in July. Photo provided to China Daily

"They came from 37 states and didn't know each other before. After 10 days of work, they could play a very hard program."

Carnegie Hall has the initiative to do such educational programs and it is possible in China, too, because there are many bright young musicians, he adds.

In 2005, Dutoit joined Chinese conductor Yu Long to start the Canton International Summer Music Academy in Guangdong province's capital, Guangzhou, to train young musicians.

He has made 25 trips to China as a musician and two as a tourist.

His first visit was to Beijing in 1982.

In '86, he returned to tour the country.

Early visits sparked an interest in Chinese art. He has collected porcelain and paintings from the Tang (AD 618-907) and Ming Dynasties (1368-1644).

"I wanted to know China more. It's a very old dream, since I came very early," he says.

He has since visited as a conductor with the French National Orchestra; the NHK Symphony Orchestra; the Verbier Festival Orchestra; London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; the Philadelphia Orchestra; the Boston Symphony Orchestra; and the New York Philharmonic.

His first collaboration with a Chinese orchestra was in 1995, with the National Symphony Orchestra.

He later worked with the China Philharmonic, Shanghai Symphony and Guangzhou Symphony.

"I've seen the improvement of the Chinese orchestras as well as the development of classical music in the country," he says.

"I think you should attribute the development to Yu Long, who is Mr China in the music world. He is a genius－not only as a conductor, but (he's) good at organizing things. He is the one who has made it work internationally."

Dutoit and Yu met at a dinner with the American violinist Isaac Stern (1920-2001), during the Beijing Music Festival in 1999. It was the 20th anniversary of Stern's first visit to China.

In 1979, Stern had visited Beijing and Shanghai, collaborating with Chinese conductor Li Delun (1917-2001) and the China National Symphony Orchestra. He coached many music students while visiting. That three-week trip was filmed and made into the Academy Award-winning 1980 documentary From Mao to Mozart.

Yu invited Stern back to Beijing in 1999 to perform with Li and the students he had coached 20 years ago.