A key position

In a bid to inject some 'youthful vitality' to its orchestra, the Shanghai Opera House has appointed 33-year-old Yu Lu as its first guest principal conductor, Zhang Kun reports.

Shanghai Opera House announced on Feb 8 the decision to appoint 33-year-old Yu Lu as its first guest principal conductor.

"I hope this outstanding young conductor can embark on a brand-new musical journey with the orchestra of Shanghai Opera House," said Xu Zhong, director of the opera house.

He offered Yu a golden key, hoping it will help him to "open the gates of opera". Yu is about the same age as most of the instrumentalists, Xu said. "I believe the young conductor will find a lot in common with the members of the orchestra, and new possibilities will emerge with their collaboration."

Yu will present at least 10 concert productions with the orchestra and conduct its opera productions during the two-year contract period. Although no specific plan has been announced, Yu says that his first opera creation with Shanghai Opera House would probably be Madame Butterfly.

"I am a student of Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa, and this year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. I think it will be a great occasion to present an opera with a Japanese theme," he explains.

Yu was born in 1989 and graduated from the China Central Conservatory of Music in 2012. When he was 19, Lu won a contest held by Ozawa, and subsequently became the renowned conductor's protege. His performance with the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Orchestra in the Kyoto Concert Hall was praised by Ongaku no Tomo, a leading Japanese media outlet, as "the role model for all young Japanese conductors".

Since then, Yu has worked with internationally acclaimed orchestras such as the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg in Austria and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in the Netherlands, as well as releasing an album with the Camerata RCO of the latter.

Last year, Yu collaborated with the orchestra of his hometown, Ningbo of Zhejiang province, to present a symphony marathon－playing the whole cycle of nine symphonies by Beethoven in five days－which was livestreamed on the popular video-sharing platform Bilibili.