New era for Chinese classical music

"Yu Long, leading the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and the China Philharmonic Orchestra, has created an extraordinary series of live performances and recordings, covering a wide range of repertoire by composers from both the East and the West, from the classical masters to contemporary composers. We are delighted that Universal Music China and DG are able to document these works of art. The release of this box set not only documents the great recordings, but also celebrates maestro Yu's momentous 60th birthday," said DG's president Clemens Trautmann.

Kleopatra Sofroniou, DG's general manager classics, was present at the news conference to celebrate the special occasion, along with Timothy Xu, chairman and chief executive officer of Universal Music Greater China. They awarded the maestro for his outstanding contributions to the global classical music industry during the event.

Yu's collaboration with DG dates back to before 2000. With Yu as the artistic director and principal conductor, the China Philharmonic Orchestra was launched in May 2000 and soon captured DG's attention. The two sides decided to record two albums as the newborn orchestra's greetings to the world. It was the first time that the top classical label worked with a Chinese orchestra, becoming a milestone in the development of Chinese orchestras.

"With his vision, deep insights and serious artistic attitude in these two recordings, Yu showed the direction and laid the foundation for the future development of the China Philharmonic Orchestra. That is, to interpret global classics with exquisite skills on one hand, and to discover and create orchestral music with traditional Chinese cultural and musical elements on the other. In the following two decades, dozens of Chinese orchestras were established in a spurt, and almost all of them followed this direction and won respect worldwide," says Li Nan, president of the China Philharmonic Orchestra.

Taking the reins of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in 2009, Yu became the first Chinese conductor to sign an exclusive relationship with DG in 2018, offering the orchestra a global release and distribution partnership. This milestone partnership has seen the coproduction of highly acclaimed albums from 2018 to 2024, including Gateways, Orff: Carmina Burana — Live from the Forbidden City, The Song of the Earth, and Emigre, all of which are included in the box set.

"This year marks the 145th anniversary of the establishment of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. We have been committed to communicating with the world through music, which means not only bringing more international elements to Shanghai, but also showcasing Chinese music and culture to the whole world … We are expecting deeper and further cooperation with DG in the future," said Zhou Ping, president of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, during the news conference.

Sofroniou spoke highly of Yu's efforts and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, saying she was greatly honored and deeply impressed during their partnership.

"Particularly, we much respect Yu's outstanding achievements in shaping his orchestras. He is a storyteller, bringing stories to us and music projects combining the West and the East, which is so original that we have never heard before and belongs to the future of classical (music).We are creating new heritage of classical music together," she says.