Hailed by The New York Times as “the most powerful figure in China’s classical music scene,” the conductor and impresario Long Yu has devoted his illustrious career to steering China’s growing connection to classical music. Maestro Yu currently holds the top position in the country’s most prominent orchestras: Artistic Director of the China Philharmonic Orchestra, in Beijing, and Music Director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. He is also the Principal Guest Conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, co-director of Shanghai’s Music in the Summer Air festival, and Chair of the Artistic Committee of the Beijing Music Festival. He is currently Vice President of the China Musicians Association and Chairman of its League of China Orchestras.

Among many other career highlights, in 2005 Maestro Yu led the China Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) on a 40-day international tour in 22 cities throughout North America and Europe. He also led the CPO in the first Chinese orchestral performance at the Vatican’s Paul VI Auditorium in 2008, and the BBC Proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 2014.

Since taking the reins of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra (SSO) in 2009, Maestro Yu has led the orchestra on a tour of the United States and Europe, with performances at the BBC Proms, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and at the Edinburgh, Lucerne and Ravinia festivals. In 2018, he became the first Chinese conductor to sign an exclusive relationship with Deutsche Grammophon, offering the SSO a global release and distribution partnership and leading to several releases on the renowned label. In celebration of Maestro Yu’s 60th birthday, in 2024, the label released the six-disc box set Long Yu: Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon in Mainland China. Previous releases include Aaron Zigman: Émigré (2024), The Song of the Earth (2021), Orff: Carmina Burana (Live From the Forbidden City) (2019), and Gateways (2019).

As Music Director of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra (GSO) from 2003 to 2023, Yu expanded the orchestra’s repertory, its educational mission, and its touring—to Europe, the U.S., Australia, Africa, and the Middle East. After 20 years at the helm, Maestro Yu stepped down as Music Director of GSO in 2023 and is now Honorary Music Director for Life and the Chair of the Artistic Committee of GSO and Youth Music Culture The Greater Bay Area.

A towering figure on the international stage, Maestro Yu has conducted many highly acclaimed orchestras throughout the world, including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Staatsoper Hamburg, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, and Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

Yu has received numerous prestigious awards and recognitions, including the 2010 Person of the Year in the Arts Field, the 2013 China Arts Award, an Honorary Academician from the Central Conservatory of Music, the Arts Patronage Award of the Montblanc Cultural Foundation; Chevalier dans L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres; L’onorificenza diCommendatore dell’Ordine al Merito, from the Italian government; Légion d’Honneur, France’s highest order of merit; the Global Citizen Award from the Atlantic Council; and the Samuel Simons Sanford Award from the Yale School of Music. In 2016, Yu was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2018, he was conferred an Honorary Doctorate from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.