After nine rigorous, yet creative days packed with orchestra and chamber music rehearsals, masterclasses, workshops, and more, the third annual Youth Music Culture Guangdong (YMCG) drew to a victorious close on January 19 with a six-hour marathon concert “From Brahms and Sibelius to the Unexpected.”

The young musicians performed original arrangements and 16 chamber and symphonic works culminating in Brahms’s Concerto for Violin and Cello in A minor with YMCG Artistic Director Yo-Yo Ma and violinist Johnny Gandelsman in the spotlight and Sibelius’s illustrious Symphony No. 5 in E-flat Major, both under the baton of YMCG Music Director Michael Stern.

Public events – which last year attracted more than 5,000 audience members – included two masterclasses led by Yo-Yo Ma and other faculty members, an Arts Management Workshop hosted by Lisa Porter, an Art Education Series hosted by Tina Blythe including Chamber Salons, and an open rehearsal prior to the final concert.



YMCG’s star-studded leadership includes Long Yu – who is also Music Director of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, and China Philharmonic Orchestra, and Founder of the Beijing Music Festival – as Chairman of the Artistic Committee, Yo-Yo Ma as Artistic Director, and Michael Stern as Music Director. YMCG invited 14 top artists and scholars to join the 2019 faculty included Mike Block, Johnny Gandelsman, Tina Blythe, and members of the Silkroad ensemble. YMCG Founding Partner from 2017 and 2018, Volkswagen Group China's AEP-China, continued to support this year's project. It was presented by the Guangdong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and hosted by Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra and Xinghai Concert Hall.

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