Interview by William Chan
Yeh Tsung, who has joined the Macao Chinese Orchestra (OCHM) as the principal guest conductor and artistic advisor recently, told The Macau Post Daily last month in an online interview about his experiences and perspectives – as well as visions for leading the Macao Chinese Orchestra.
Born in Shanghai in 1950, Yeh started to learn piano at the age of five and studied Piano and Conducting at the Shanghai Conservatory for 14 years. Yeh then furthered his music studies in New York in 1981 as one of the first batch of mainland Chinese students under Deng Xiaoping’s economic reform. In 1983, Yeh became the first Chinese winner of the Exxon/Arts Endowment Conductors Programme and received a job offer as the assistant conductor for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, officially launching his decades-long conducting career.
Upon landing a major orchestra conducting job, he was invited to collaborate with a raft of distinguished international orchestras such as the Chicago, San Francisco, Minnesota, Tucson and New Haven Symphonies, the Calgary Philharmonic, Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, Rochester Philharmonic and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, as well as various orchestras in Hong Kong, Taiwan and in the mainland.
During his 28-year-career with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra in the United States, he was invited in 2001 to conduct the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) which was the start of his two-decade-long association with the SCO, and he became the world’s first music director to simultaneously lead a symphony orchestra and a Chinese orchestra – across the two continents.
Extraordinary ties with Macau
During Yeh’s earlier career, he was the pianist for the China Oriental Song and Dance Troupe. “In 1978, a few of us were invited to Marshal Ye Jianying’s* (葉劍英) home in Guangdong for a special private performance, during which the marshal introduced Mr. Ho Yin (何賢) to us. The wonderful night of music simultaneously was my first opportunity to hear about Macau,” Yeh said.
After building up his reputation in the United States, Yeh became a frequent guest conductor for various orchestras in Asia and met many musicians that furthered his ensuing collaboration with the Macao Chinese Orchestra. “I started guest conducting the Hong Kong Philharmonic and was the founding music director of the Hong Kong Sinfonietta in the 90s, during which I collaborated with Wang Jing, the then pipa principal in the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. She later introduced me to her husband who’s a musician in the OCHM,” Yeh noted, adding that Doming Lam** had invited him to conduct the Macao Orchestra, even before the formation of the OCHM, which advanced his relationship with Macau’s music culture.
During a local music festival in the early 2000s, Yeh was invited to Macau again, but this time with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra. “In July 2018, I came to Macau as a guest conductor for the Chinese Macao Orchestra. Thus, before taking my current position with the OCHM last year, I already considered myself to be quite familiar with the music in Macau, at the very least!” Yeh pointed out.
Quality, innovation & uniqueness – crucial elements for orchestra
When initially appointed to the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Yeh, originally a Western orchestra conductor, took up the challenge to map out the Chinese orchestra’s path. “Chinese orchestras merely have a history of 100 years, compared to the Western counterparts which span a few hundred years; we could say that many aspects of the Chinese orchestras are still developing, including instruments and repertoires,” Yeh said, adding that the balance of the orchestra sound, the overall tone quality and the development of the orchestral capabilities are all issues to be addressed in the future.
According to Yeh, as Chinese orchestras are still continuing to develop and evolve, musicians should utilise the opportunity to incorporate various music elements and constantly experiment with new ideas. “The Singapore Chinese Orchestra has continuously put forward different projects, such as commissioning Singaporean composers, holding composing competitions, putting on workshops to train youngsters, and performing pop, jazz, Celtic and all kinds of ethnical music besides traditional Chinese tunes.
“Music, as well as any orchestra, is inseparable from society, and as society is evolving rapidly, we musicians must adapt to it and even lead society at times – that is what culture is for. Otherwise, you will end up in the archives of a library,” Yeh noted.
With innovation comes uniqueness, Yeh noted, adding: “Meanwhile, I intend to commission Macau composers as well during my stay in Macau, but the music must show its own characteristics. By working closely with them, I’ll make sure that the newly created music will show their own characters with quality”
During the interview, Yeh frequently brought up fascinating cultural elements in Macau, such as the history of Portuguese colonisation, the diversity of Chinese subgroups including Hakka, Fujianese, Shanghainese and Cantonese, and the various higher music education institutions. He underlined that the first task for him, after arriving in Macau, is to immerse himself in the local atmosphere.
Nonetheless, Yeh said that the most important of all aspects for any music group is quality. “Quality, in my heart, is always my top priority when I am directing an orchestra. I always avoid placing gimmicks over standards and quality. After all, even if you have the best idea, you cannot execute it well, it loses its purpose. Therefore, my primary task in the Macao Chinese Orchestra is to ensure its quality, quality, and quality,” Yeh underlined.
*One of the founding Ten Marshals of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Ye Jianying led and won numerous decisive battles, helped end the Cultural Revolution and served as the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) from 1978 to 1983.
**Prolific Macau composer Doming Lam (林樂培), who passed away last month, had served as the music director of the Macao Chamber Orchestra, the former of Macao Orchestra. Lam was named one of the five Asian composing masters by musicians in Tokyo.
This undated file photo shows Yeh Tsung posing with his baton. – Photo downloaded yesterday from the website of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO)
These photos show Yeh conducting the Macao Chinese Orchestra (OCHM) at the Grand Auditorium in the Macau Cultural Centre (CCM) in 2018. – Photos provided by OCHM
