The Philadelphia Orchestra commemorates the 50th anniversary of its groundbreaking China tour
Sinica Podcast
Kaiser Kuo
4.8 • 676 Ratings
🗓️ 28 September 2023
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week on Sinica, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the 1950 concert tour of China by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1973, Kaiser chats with Matías Tarnopolsky, the orchestra’s president and chief executive; Alison Friedman, executive and creative director of Carolina Performing Arts; and virtuoso guzheng player and composer Wu Fei about the legacy of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s China tour, their continuing connection with China, and their concert performances in Chapel Hill, performed to the day on the two closing nights of that historic tour 50 years ago.07:00 – The China connection in the overall identity of the Philadelphia Orchestra
11:32 – 缘分 [yuánfèn] and the serendipity of the commemorative concert in Chapel Hill
14:19 – What can we learn from the original Philadelphia Orchestra members?
19:49 – Has the interest in the China-U.S. culture exchange started to fall off in recent years?
25:04 – Music as the common ground in the light of worsening relations with China
28:02 – “What’s the orchestra of today?” - as the leading theme for the commemorative concert
31:10 – The significance of Beethoven’s Symphony No.6 to the orchestra’s history in China
33:41 – The inspiration for Hello Gold Mountain and its connection to the Jewish history in China
A complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.
Recommendations:
Matias: Soave sia il vento (the trio from Mozart’s opera Così fan tutte)
Alison: Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics (podcast)
Fei: Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (avant-garde metal band)
Kaiser: Good Harvest 大丰收 (restaurant)
Matteo Mancuso (Sicilian guitar virtuoso)
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Cynical podcast, a weekly discussion of current affairs in China, brought to you by The China Project. |
| 0:15.6 | Subscribe to the China Project to get the early release, ad-free version of this podcast every week, and of course our daily newsletter, the best way there is, to stay informed about China. |
| 0:27.8 | You'll also have access to all of the original writing on our website at theChinaproject.com. |
| 0:33.7 | We've got reported stories, essays and editorials, great explainers, regular columns, and, |
| 0:39.5 | of course, a growing library of podcasts. |
| 0:42.7 | We cover everything from China's fraught foreign relations to its ingenious entrepreneurs, |
| 0:47.2 | from the ongoing repression, Uyghurs, and other Muslim peoples in China's Xinjiang region, |
| 0:52.1 | to Beijing's ambitious plans to shift the Chinese economy onto a |
| 0:56.6 | post-carbon footing. It's a feast of business, political, and cultural news about a nation |
| 1:02.1 | that is reshaping the world. We cover China with neither fear nor favor. And if you like this |
| 1:08.8 | podcast, you will love our next China event on November 2nd in New York |
| 1:13.8 | with a special VIP evening featuring a live Cynica podcast the night before on November 1st. |
| 1:20.1 | It's going to be a night and a day of the most interesting and informative discussions on China |
| 1:25.6 | you'll hear this year. And great networking |
| 1:28.5 | opportunities as well. Please come and introduce yourself to me and to Jeremy and to the others |
| 1:33.1 | at the China Project, and I will talk more about this before recommendations. |
| 1:38.0 | 50 years ago, the Philadelphia Orchestra, led by its famed conductor Eugene Ormandy, went to Beijing to perform, and it made history. |
| 1:47.8 | It was a seminal event, not just in the popularization and development of classical music in China, but also in the diplomatic history of the two countries. |
| 1:57.2 | I am not going to dwell too much today on the actual visit or even on its enduring impact, |
| 2:02.7 | but we'll focus instead on a commemorative event being held right here in Chapel Hill |
| 2:08.4 | that has brought some dear ones into town for the occasion as you will soon hear. |
| 2:12.8 | Now, if listeners want a refresher on the Philadelphia Orchestra's trip 50 years ago, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Kaiser Kuo, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Kaiser Kuo and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.