Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra (GSO) was founded in 1957. After decades of artistic growth, GSO becomes one of the most prestigious orchestras in China. Maestro Long Yu, the current music director, is a Chinese conductor with an established international reputation. He has appeared as guest conductor collaborated with numerous prestigious orchestras and opera companies in the world. He holds also Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the China Philharmonic Orchestra, Music Director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director of the Beijing Music Festival.

The pursuit of artistic improvement and artistic identity is well maintained throughout the GSO growing history. The orchestra has performed alongside many of the world’s leading artists, including Li Delun, Zheng Xiaoying, Huang Xiaotong, Yan Liangkun, Han Zhongjie, Xu Xin, Bian Zushan, Tang Muhai, Chen Xieyang, Zhang Guoyong, Tan Lihua, Yu Feng, Hu Yongyan, En Shao, Wing-sie Yip, Li Xincao, Yang Yang, Charles Dutoit, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Krzysztof Penderecki,
Claus Peter Flor, Klaus Weise, John Nelson, Jiri Belohlavek, Martha Argerich, Gary Graffman, Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Annie Suphie Mutter, Mischa Maisky, Sarah Chang, Augustin Dumay, Joseph Silverstein, Emanuel Ax, Barry Douglas, Jahja Ling, Kun-Woo Paik, Jian Wang, Lang Lang, Tan Dun, Qigang Chen, Guo Wenjing, Chen Yi, Zhou Long and many others both at home and abroad.

Besides performing regular symphonic concerts, the orchestra developed its potentiality to opera and ballet performances. GSO produced and performed at least one opera concert per season since 2004. The productions of operas have included Carmen, La Traviata, The Magic Flute, Turandot and Tosca. Moreover, GSO has presented numerous performances in collaboration with world leading ballet companies, such as English National Ballet, Royal Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Ballet Company of the Hungarian State Opera, Germany National Ballet, Australian Ballet, Cuba National Ballet, and Hong Kong Ballet. The productions of ballet repertoire have included Swan Lake,The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, The Nutcracker, Coppelia, Don Quixote, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cinderalla, The Tales of Hoffman, Les Sylphides, La Traviata, and Anna Karenina.

Following the U.S. tour, GSO also traveled to Japan on invitation for celebrating the Asian Orchestra Week 2005 and presented two concerts at the Symphony Hall in Osaka and Opera City Concert Hall in Tokyo. Just after that, GSO toured to Hawaii and had performance in the Neal S Blaisdell Concert Hall, for celebrating the friendship between Guangdong Province and Hawaii City for the 20th anniversary.

In December 2006, the orchestra was invited to perform both in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the 15th Asian Games holding in Doha. The orchestra gained great honor on behalf of China with their excellent performance. In October 2009, appointed by the Ministry of Culture, GSO participated in two significant international culture events in Europe – the Opening Concert for the Festival EUROPALIA CHINA 2009 in Brussels, Belgium on October 8th and the Chinese Music Themes Concert in Asia-Pacific Week on October 12th in the Konzerthaus Berlin in Germany. Until now, GSO is the first and the only one Chinese symphony orchestra that has left music footprints in five continents around the world, which received highly reputation both at home and overseas.

Conductor: Long Yu

As one of the most distinguished Chinese conductors with an established international reputation, Maestro Long Yu is currently Vice-president of Chinese Musicians Association, Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the China Philharmonic Orchestra, Music Director of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Artistic Director of the Beijing Music Festival and Music in the Summer Air, MISA.

Long Yu is one of the conductors who conducts the world top-class orchestras most frequently, he has appeared with a prestigious list of leading orchestras and a lot of opera companies around the world, including the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the Washington National Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Hamburg State Opera, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester Leipzig, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Tokyo Philharmonic and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

Long Yu was born in 1964 into a family of musicians in Shanghai. Musical education in his early childhood came from his grandfather Ding Shande, a composer of great renown, and he later studied at the Shanghai Conservatory with Professor Xiaotong Huang and then studied at the Hochschule der Kunst in Berlin with Maestro Robinstein. Outstanding music talents and Excellent educational background make Long Yu a preeminent conductor.

Long Yu’s career has included both artistic and administrative appointments. In 1992, he was appointed Principal Conductor of the Central Opera Theatre in Beijing, and in the same year, he was involved in the planning of the first Beijing New Year’s Concert and served as its conductor for three consecutive years. He also produced operas for The Urban Council of Hong Kong for five successive years. In 1998, he led the creation of the Beijing Music Festival and was its Founding Artistic Director. Under his leadership the Beijing Music Festival is regarded as the largest classical music festival in the eastern hemisphere and one of the world’s most important music festivals. During the past 11years at this annual autumn festival there have been many splendid concerts given by leading orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic, as well as outstanding productions of the Ring, Der Rosenkavalier, Tannhauser, La Traviata, Nabucco, Lulu and Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by visiting opera companies including the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Teatro la Fenice and the Mariinsky Theatre.

Maestro Long Yu’s reputation has been enhanced by his activities as a widely admired and respected figure in administration of orchestras and festival as well as in international exchanging of musical culture. As a champion of contemporary music Long Yu has been commissioning a number of works from today’s prominent composers such as Krzysztof Penderecki, Philip Glass, Guo Wenjing, Tan Dun, Ye Xiaogang and Unsuk Chin.

Mr. Long Yu’s recordings include, on Deutsche Grammophon with the China Philharmonic, Brahms’s Piano Quartet in G Minor (orch. Arnold Schoenberg) and Wagner’s Tannhauser Overture, highlights of Chinese symphonic music and Yellow River Concerto with Lang Lang as featured soloist. Recordings on Naxos include Korngold’s Violin Concerto and Ding Shande’s Long March Symphony.