“Between the 21 years since the Cleveland Orchestra’s last trip to China and China’s explosive growth as a musical nation in the meanwhile, the time for a Cleveland Orchestra tour of the region has never been riper,” writes Zachary Lewis in Thursday’s (3/21) Plain Dealer (Cleveland). Cleveland Orchestra President and CEO André Gremillet “And his team have … seen the crowds major American orchestras and other performers now attract, the enormous size and potential of China’s audience for Western classical music…. The Cleveland Orchestra of today also looks and sounds much different than it did in the 1990s, and that, too, is a valid reason to visit China and its neighbors, Macao and Taiwan…. Four cities—Macao, Shenzhen, Wuhan and Nanjing—will be hosting the Cleveland Orchestra for the first time, while the others—Beijing, Shanghai, and Taipei—haven’t heard the group since the 1980s or 90s…. Violinist Wei-Fang Gu has returned to his native Shanghai only twice since he left in 1987…. When he last visited in 2010, ‘All of a sudden, it felt really different,’ he recalled…. ‘People come for the music…. I believe they’ll really love this music and this orchestra.’ ”
Posted March 25, 2019
