EOS, a burgeoning student orchestra, will hold a New Year's concert on January 2 at the 18 on the Bund, the cutting edge fashion area in Shanghai.
Under the baton of the Chinese-American conductor Hu Yongyan, the members of the EOS-China's Orchestra Academy will demonstrate their team work in the concerts featuring the theme of "loving, giving and sharing."
The concert program ranges from Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker" selections and Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," to operatic arias from "Turandot," "Don Pasquale" and "La Traviata."
The concert is just the start of the academy's mission as a springboard for young talent to shine internationally.
EOS-China's Orchestra Academy is a new name in Beijing's classical music scene, which was quietly born at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing in July.
EOS means dawn, east and symphonic in ancient Greek.
Chinese-American conductor Hu created it based on the student orchestra of the Central Conservatory of Music. Hu hoped to establish a unique educational environment that prepares young highly-gifted musicians for positions in orchestras and ensembles around the world.
In August, EOS won applause in Germany, the country with a long and rich history of Western classical music, at the annual Young Euro Classic Festival.
The German press praised the orchestra for giving outstanding concerts, showing a deep understanding of the pieces they performed, and interpreting Beethoven's basic musical elements in natural tempos.
In the local critics' eyes, conductor Hu was able to give full expression to the inner energy of this poetic and powerful work, referring to Chinese composer Ye Xiaogang's "Song of the Earth."
Hu, artistic director of EOS, has planned a busy schedule for the orchestra in 2006.
The coming concerts in Shanghai are just the prelude.
After graduating from the Central Conservatory of Music and serving as the music director of the Shanghai Ballet Company Orchestra for a short time, Hu earned a scholarship to study at Yale University and gained a master's degree in music from Julliard School of Music in New York in 1989.
Since then, he has developed a fruitful career, with posts as music director of the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra in Nebraska from 1993 to 1998; music director of Duluth-Superior Symphony in Minnesota from 1995 to 2000; and he came back to his hometown to take the baton of Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra since 1999.
When he returned to his alma mater as a faculty member in 2003, the rich career experience abroad and wide vision inspired him to think of introducing a new model for orchestra training and performance to China.
The idea came from the unique approach of the New World Symphony-America's Orchestra Academy, a national orchestral academy established in 1987 for the gifted graduates of America's music conservatories as an important addition to the country's musical training.
"So far as I see, China's music education neglects the training of orchestral music performance," Hu said in an interview with China Daily recently. "In other words, most of them could do a very good job when they play alone, but few know how to collaborate with an orchestra. Or they play beautiful melodies but interpret nothing from the music."
Hu explained that while most young musicians hope to join a professional orchestra, especially those with an international reputation, after graduation, they could fail in the audition because they lack experience in orchestral performance.
"So my mission is to help them know how to play in an orchestra, thus to bring them more opportunities in employment in the future," he said.
Each musician will be offered an intensive three-year program in performance and training activities. The core programs of EOS include symphonic music, chamber music, recitals, coaching for orchestra auditions, English language thesis and some elective courses.
(China Daily December 13, 2005)
