Under the baton

Leipzig Opera House will perform Strass' opera Ariadne auf Naxos (above and below) at the festival. [Photo/China Daily]

Under his baton, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra will play two concerts for all Strauss-related programs. The first evening will feature Metamorphosen and Eine Alpensinfonie. The second evening will have Don Quixote, Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche.

Munich Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 1893 in Strauss' hometown and the orchestra has since become one of Europe's finest.

Renowned Austrian-Hungarian conductor Gustav Mahler directed the orchestra in 1901 and 1910 to premiere his Fourth and Eighth Symphonies. In November 1911, six months after the composer's death, the orchestra premiered his The Song of the Earth.

After its debut at New York's Carnegie Hall in February 2002, under the baton of then-chief conductor James Levine, the New York Times hailed its "energetic, richly colored and insightful ... music making".

The Munich orchestra returned to Carnegie Hall in April with an all-Strauss program that included Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche.

Yu Long will conduct his China Philharmonic Orchestra to play another Strauss-themed program that includes Erste Walzerfolge, Violin Concerto in D minor and A Hero's Life on Oct 26.

Lu Wei, the 33-year-old first violinst of Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, will play the violin concerto. Yu recalled he first performed with Lu in 1992, when the latter was 11 and the former was chief conductor of China Central Opera House.

In 1898, Strauss decided to write a piece in the style of Beethoven's Third Symphony, Heroic. Yu covers Strauss' attempt in a bid to celebrate the promotion of classical music in China.

Born to a family of musicians in Shanghai, Yu, 50, took to music early and learned conducting at Shanghai Conservatory and Berlin Conservatory.

He returned to China to establish the Beijing Music Festival in 1998 and China Philharmonic Orchestra in 2000. China Philharmonic Orchestra was among the Top 10 most inspiring orchestras listed by Gramophone in 2009. Today, he is also music director of Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra.

Opera has always highlighted the festival.