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A French horn played by an American in a Chinese orchestra: Can music-making get any more cosmopolitan than this?

Take a look at the conductors of the great orchestras of the world, and you cannot but be struck by how itinerant these maestros are. The London Philharmonic Orchestra is led by a Russian, the Berlin Philharmonic by a Briton, the New York Philharmonic by a Dutchman and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra by an American, to name but a few.

In China, orchestras in Beijing, Guangzhou, Guiyang, Nanning and Shanghai are led by Chinese conductors, but cast your eye over their orchestra pits and you will realize that they are increasingly taking on a multinational look, and possibly even sound.