2017 YMCG

Artistic Director

Conductor and Music Director

  • Proudly presented by the Guangdong Provincial Department of Culture, the inaugural 2017 Youth Music Culture Guangdong (YMCG) is organized by the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra (GSO) and Xinghai Concert Hall. The success of the major musical and cultural events in Guangdong province over the past decade have shown the region’s potential to reach out to the world. With world-renowned Mr. Yo-Yo Ma serving as Artistic Director, YMCG will continue its musical and cultural outreach with young musicians from not only China but all across the globe.

  • The first annual YMCG will run from January 7th to 20th, 2017. All faculty members are personally selected by Mr. Yo-Yo Ma from major symphony orchestras in the United States as well as the renowned Silk Road Ensemble.

  • During the two-week program, we will focus on teaching orchestral, chamber and self-organized playing and link this to a curriculum on “cultural citizenship” that emphasizes effective engagement with each other and society’s needs.

Faculty

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Mike Block, Cello

Versatile American cellist, member of the Silkroad Ensemble, Youth Music Culture Guangdong instructor since its founding

YMCG Orchestra

Applications will be accepted for the following instruments: violin, viola, cello, bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, percussion, and harp.

Program this year includes:

Ravel: Valses Nobles et Sentimentales
Beethoven: Symphony No. 8
Dvorak: Cello concerto, 2nd/3rd movements. Cello: Yo-Yo Ma
Stravinsky: Suite from The Firebird (1919)

*All participants will also be assigned to chamber groups and will perform in chamber music concerts as well as participating in the daily Silk Road Workshops for self-organized playing.

Application Process

  1. Fill out the application form. Deadline for application is Friday, November 11th, 2016. (Applications by mail must be received by this date).
  2. Once application and audition videos have been reviewed by YMCG faculty, you will receive acceptance or rejection by email before November 30th, 2016.
  3. Upon acceptance, participants must confirm their attendance with YMCG by December 5th, 2016.

* Accepted participants are expected to participate for the full two-week period (January 7th – January 20th, 2017) without absences. Your schedule should be planned accordingly. No leave of absence will be granted.
* Age limit 18 to 35 years old

Contact Information：
mail：ymcg@gso.org.cn
phone：+86 020-37815560 [ Monday to Saturday 9:00-12:00,14:00-17:00 （ GMT+8）]

  • Application: $0
  • YMCG offers to accepted young artists a full scholarship for tuition, room and board, as well as all transportation costs for touring concerts. Participants must provide their own transportation to Guangzhou as well as all costs for passport, traveling documents and necessary visas to participate in touring concerts.

Short Essay Questions:

The application includes a series of short essay questions. Please be prepared to answer them:

  1. Who am I and how do I fit in the world?
  2. What is the role of a musician in society?
  3. What is the role of music in your life?
  4. What else would you do if not music?
  5. What is your greatest joy?
  6. What is your greatest challenge?

Video Audition Requirements:

Each video must be under two minutes; Video formats must be avi, mpeg, mp4 or mov; File size limit is 500 MB per video.

  1. Please play a song that you remember from your childhood. You can play it alone, sing it, or play with friends and colleagues.
  2. Please play a piece of music from the classical repertoire. You can play a solo piece, or play with anybody you choose.
  3. Choose one of the following:
  • Play a short piece that you composed or improvised.
  • Tell us something about yourself.
  • Tell a joke.
  • Show us something that you’ve made.
  • Describe something beautiful that you admire.

Please use one of the following ways to complete the application process:

Online Application System
  1. click here to enter Online Application System
  2. Upon starting the application, you will be prompted to enter your name and email address before connecting to your personalized link for your application. You will also receive the personalized link in the email you entered in order to edit your application at a later time. However, please make sure you hit “next” whenever you finish inputting information on each page so the page will be saved. You can come back to edit any time before you submit the application.
  3. When uploading the required videos, please be patient during the process. Don’t interrupt the upload. Be sure to upload files using a stable internet connection, and make sure the computer does not go into sleep or hibernate mode while a file is uploading. Upload speed is dependent upon both file size and speed of the internet connection.
  4. For any questions regarding the online application system, contact ymcg@gso.org.cn.
By Postal Mail
  1. Click here to download application form.
  2. Mail the completed application form, your photo and short bio, answers to the short essay questions, and a DVD containing three required audition videos to:

YMCG Organizing Committee
Room 304
1 Hai Shan Jie, Yuexiu Qu,
Guangzhou Shi, Guangdong Sheng
China, 510100
Phone: +86 020-37815560

By Email
  1. Click here to download application form.
  2. Save the completed application form (PDF) and email the file along with your photo, short bio and answers to the short essay (saved as doc, docx, or PDF), as well as downloadable links to your three required audition videos to ymcg@gso.org.cn.