Cellist feels the melody of home calling

One of the most globally renowned Chinese musicians, cellist Wang Jian is back home in Shanghai.

The 54-year-old musician has been active in the international music scene for decades. He first came to public attention in 1981 as the serious-looking little boy holding on to the cello that seemed too big for his arms in the Academy Award-winning documentary From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China.

Through the past decades he has had a successful career, performing with leading orchestras all over the world, such as the London Symphony, Zurich Tonhalle, NDR Elbphilharmonie, and Stockholm Philharmonic, among others.

In March, he moved back from Europe to Shanghai with his family, taking a teaching job at the string department of his alma mater, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Last week, his grand comeback concert with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Salute to Wang Jian, took place at the Shanghai Symphony Hall, when he played Hymnus for 12 Cellos by German composer and cellist Julius Klengel with the 11-piece cello section of the orchestra.

"It was musicians like Wang Jian that showed the world Chinese culture and music since China's reform and opening-up," says Yu Long, artistic director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and conductor of the concert.

On Friday, Wang gives a recital with pianist Xue Yingjia at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center.

"I have been returning frequently to Shanghai in the past 10 years, and witnessed the great changes in China," Wang says ahead of the concert at the Shanghai Symphony Hall. "Ten years ago I would not have been able to give a cello recital," he says, as chamber music did not attract an audience in those days.

China has made dramatic progress in the socioeconomic development and the cultural scene has seen rapid growth in audiences for classical music.