Long Yu

Hailed by The New York Times as “the most powerful figure in China’s classical music scene”, the conductor and impresario Long Yu has devoted his illustrious career to steering China’s growing connection to classical music. Maestro Yu currently holds the top position in the country’s most prominent orchestras: Artistic Director of the China Philharmonic Orchestra in Beijing, and Music Director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. He is also the Principal Guest Conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, co-director of Shanghai’s Music in the Summer Air festival, and Chair of the Artistic Committee of the Beijing Music Festival. He is currently Vice President of the China Musicians Association and Chairman of its League of China Orchestras.

In 2005, Yu led the China Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) on a 40-day international tour in 22 cities throughout North America and Europe. He also led the CPO in the first Chinese orchestral performance at the Vatican’s Paul VI Auditorium in 2008, and at the BBC Proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 2014.

Since taking the reins of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra (SSO) in 2009, Yu has led the orchestra on a tour of the US and Europe, with performances at the BBC Proms, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, as well as the Edinburgh, Lucerne and Ravinia festivals. In 2018, he became the first Chinese conductor to sign an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon, offering the SSO a global release and distribution partnership, and leading to the recording releases of Orff: Carmina Burana (Live From the Forbidden City) (January 2019), Gateways (June 2019), The Song of the Earth (July 2021) and Aaron Zigman: Émigré (June 2024). 

As Music Director of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra (GSO) from 2003 to 2023, Yu expanded the orchestra’s repertoire, educational mission, and touring, with performances in Europe, the US, Australia, Africa, and the Middle East. After 20 years at the helm, Maestro Yu stepped down as Music Director of the GSO in 2023 and is now Honorary Music Director for Life and the Chair of the Artistic Committee of the GSO and YMCG (Youth Music Culture The Greater Bay Area).  

Also a towering figure on the international stage, Maestro Yu has conducted many highly acclaimed orchestras around the world, including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Staatsoper Hamburg, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, and Singapore Symphony Orchestra. 

Yu has received numerous prestigious awards and recognitions, including the 2010 Person of the Year in the Arts Field; the 2013 China Arts Award; an Honorary Academician from the Central Conservatory of Music; the Arts Patronage Award of the Montblanc Cultural Foundation; Chevalier dans L’ordre des Arts et des Lettres; L’onorificenza di Commendatore dell’Ordine al Merito from the Italian government; Légion d’honneur, France’s highest order of merit; the Global Citizen Award from the Atlantic Council; and the Samuel Simons Sanford Award from the Yale School of Music. In 2016, Yu was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2018, he was conferred an Honorary Doctorate from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.