The KT Wong Foundation supports Deutsche Grammophon’s unique 120th Anniversary Concert, a spectacular event to feature maestro Long Yu conducting the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and with leading international vocalists and DG pianist Daniil Trifonov
10th October: The Forbidden City
Maestro Long Yu and the Shanghai Symphony Orchetra will mark Deutsche Grammophon’s live 120th-anniversary festivities on the 10 October 2018 with a sensational concert at Taimiao – the Imperial Ancestral Temple of Beijing’s Forbidden City. The event trains the spotlight on Chinese excellence in classical music which has been driven by Maestro Long Yu and supported over the last ten years by the KT Wong Foundation in events both in China and across Europe.
The concert at the Imperial Ancestral Temple, will be presented in partnership with Chinese digital-music platform Kuke Music and the luxury watch and jewellery brand Chopard and is supported by the KT Wong Foundation, who are proud to be one of Long Yu’s long term partners. Long Yu and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra share the Foundation’s vision of building the future audience for classical music, one that is open to people from all backgrounds and ages.
Maestro Yu and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, who signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon earlier this year, will preview the Taimiao programme for their home audience at Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Hall on 7 October. Shortly before delivering the DG120 Beijing concert, conductor and orchestra will also record their debut album for the label in Shanghai. Set for release next year and coinciding with the orchestra’s 140 thanniversary, it will establish a dialogue between Chinese and European orchestral music in repertoire including Qigang Chen’s Violin Concerto, with Maxim Vengerov as soloist, and Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances. The Orchestra will then tour Europe led by Long Yu, with events and continued support from the KT Wong Foundation.
Taimiao last hosted a classical concert twenty years ago, when Zubin Mehta led a production of Puccini’s Turandot. Deutsche Grammophon artist Long Yu will become the first Chinese conductor to perform there when he directs the internationally renowned Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in a programme crowned by Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. They will be joined by the mixed adult voices of the Wiener Singakademie; the Shanghai Spring Children’s Choir; soprano Aida Garifullina, tenor Toby Spence and baritone Ludovic Tézier.
Lady Linda Wong Davies, the head of the KT Wong Foundation said: “ I am delighted that my close friend Maestro Long Yu has, after many years of hard work, achieved this crowning success. To perform in the Forbidden City is an honour rarely bestowed, and to be signed by the world’s greatest classical record label is also an extraordinary achievement. To do both is extraordinary and is in recognition of his huge success. I am proud to have supported him on this path over the last ten years”.