Inaugurated in 2017, Youth Music Culture Guangdong (YMCG) has been presented by the Guangdong Provincial Department of Culture. From 2019 it will be presented by the Guangdong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and organized jointly by the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra (GSO) and Xinghai Concert Hall. This annual project takes place in January in Guangzhou, led by GSO Music Director Long Yu as Chairman of the Artistic Committee, Yo-Yo Ma as Artistic Director and Maestro Michael Stern as Music Director.

More than twenty internationally renowned musicians and educators have joined the YMCG faculty in the past three years, participating in teaching sessions and public performances. They include professors from such illustrious global institutions as Harvard University and Curtis Institute of Music, members of the Silkroad Ensemble and principal players of the world’s premier orchestras.

The YMCG program focuses on the younger generation, using music as the key and culture as the link, nurturing participants to embrace an open and flexible artistic philosophy in tandem with Yo-Yo Ma’s mission in establishing “meaningful communication; trust between the self and the collective; co-operation of individuals.” The success of the inaugural YMCG was praised in professional circles and general media as “opening a new page for the Chinese symphonic world,” also topping the list of 2017’s “China Top Ten Music News.”

Every year, YMCG assembles a new group of young musicians under the age of 35—hailing from different cultural and educational backgrounds around the world—to form the YMCG Symphony Orchestra. This gathering of like-minded musicians attests to the spirit of inclusiveness, innovation and forward-thinking of YMCG, a cultural beacon based in the region standing in the forefront of China’s reform and open-door policy.