Choosing classics
The brains behind YMCG's artistic committee are chairman Yu Long, former artistic director Yo-Yo Ma and former music director Michael Stern. YMCG's first edition took place at the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra complex in 2017. Star conductor Daniel Harding has been its music director since 2024. Year after year, top musicians from world-class orchestras and ensembles have become faculty members.
Martin Zalodek, a violinist with the prestigious Vienna Philharmonic, has traveled from Vienna to Guangzhou for three years upon Harding's invitation. "As someone who lives the professional musician's dream, we support young musicians so that they trust their ears and hearts," he says. Impressed by the youth's progress, the Austrian artist awarded a lucky musician a sought-after concert ticket when his orchestra toured China in 2025.
"Orchestra is like a little community. They will understand not just music, but also how to collaborate in the context of the orchestra," says Lorenzo Antonio Iosco, the clarinet faculty member with rich experience in conducting. Both Iosco, associate principal bass clarinet at the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, and his colleague, principal bassoon Benjamin Moermond, have joined the YMCG faculty.
Jonathan Reith, principal trombone from the Orchestre de Paris, was thrilled to see progress from young trombonist Zhang Liangzi, who returned to the program after a year away. "I see something more natural and comfortable in her personality. If you open your mind a bit more, your playing is more open as well," says Reith, who occasionally takes his students out for hotpot. The French musician and Hannes Laubin, the trumpet faculty member from Germany, teach at the world-famous Verbier Festival Academy in July and YMCG in January.
"These are my two favorite festivals," says Reith.
"The young musicians are closer than they think to playing for toplevel orchestras," says Yu Long, spurring on cadets at the program.
"They come with great gifts, but some things are missing. I don't know if that comes from training or from being young. Still, we're here to share experiences," says Harding, who is now the music director of the Orchestra and Chorus of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Beginning September 2027, he will also join the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra as music director.
"Playing in orchestras is beautiful and complicated, which has parallels throughout society," says the conductor and licensed pilot.
