Opportunity of a lifetime

A new program is set to offer around 100 young musicians from China the chance to spend two weeks at a university in the United States.

Music director and conductor Cai Jindong always reminds his students that it is a privilege to express one's feeling through instruments.

The Chinese-born musician, who moved to the United States in 1985, initially for his graduate studies in music, joined the Stanford faculty in 2004, and has since worked as the director of orchestra studies there as well as the artistic director of the Stanford Youth Orchestra.

Cai, who was born in Beijing, received his early training in China, where he learned to play the violin and the piano.

Young Chinese musicians will have another opportunity to perform on the world stage, with the launch of NYO-China, an orchestral program for the country's musically talented teenagers.  CFP

He maintains strong ties with his home country, keeps visiting and conducts several top orchestras in China.

This year, he returned to Beijing on a special mission, which is expected to bring change in the lives of many young musicians in China.

It all started in the summer of 2015 with the visit of a group of young American musicians to China.

The visit triggered the founding of NYO-China, an orchestra for musically talented Chinese teenagers.

NYO-China is sponsored by the US-China Youth Education Solutions Foundation, the brainchild of Chinese-American music educators, including Cai, its artistic director. Its name is inspired by Carnegie Hall's NYO-USA.

NYO-China held its first audition in December 2016, and the NYO-China program offers around 100 high school musicians the opportunity to participate in a two-week training program on a university campus in northeastern US, under a group of world-class teachers, including French conductor Ludovic Morlot, and Cai himself.

In July 2017, NYO-China will embark on a concert tour of the US and China, starting with a performance by pianist Wang Yuja at Carnegie Hall.

According to Cai, Chinese music students are intelligent. "They have very good technique, but most lack ensemble experience.

"And ensemble experience helps musicians discover how people work together," says Cai.

As of now, the opportunity for Chinese teenagers to join a youth orchestra is limited, even for those who aim to major in music because typically most teenagers, who learn an instrument, have to make a choice after they enter high school.

They have to decide whether to continue training and attend a music school or focus on academics as fierce competition to get a college seat makes it nearly impossible to do both things.

Speaking about the program, Cai says: "Our mission is to attract China's finest young musicians, provide them with access to superior performance and training opportunities, and to empower them to serve as ambassadors of classical music on the world stage."

For young amateur musicians, attending an orchestra is a rewarding experience as the case of Chen Yiran, a doctoral student at Tsinghua University, shows.

The 25-year-old violinist has been playing in orchestras for more than 10 years.

Chen, who graduated from one of the few middle schools in Central China's Hunan province, which has a youth orchestra, passed a Tsinghua University test for students with artistic potential and became a member of the university's symphony orchestra.

"Without orchestras, I would have never been able to travel to so many countries and meet people from different backgrounds," says Chen, adding that the ensemble experience has made him more confident when talking to strangers.

"Also, I now regard science and the arts as two different roads leading to the same goal," says Chen, who is majoring in physics.

Separately, youth orchestras are becoming increasingly popular in middle schools in top-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

But despite the changes in the big cities, Cai recognizes the problems faced in lesser developed regions, where virtuosity is still taken as the only criterion for excellence.

"I'm looking forward to the day when China's top music school graduates go back to their hometowns and contribute to the establishment of youth orchestras, especially in middle schools," says Cai.

The role of the conductor in the youth orchestra is crucial, he adds.

"This is because instead of instruction on technique, teenagers are more in need of guidance and inspiration on the meaning of music, both in art and in life."

Liu Yixi contributed to the story.