Maestro fulfilling dream of homeland

Chinese-born conductor is distinguishing himself in the land of his birth after decades of success with some of the world's best orchestras

During the 2014-15 season at La Scala opera house in Milan, a Chinese-born conductor won over the pickiest of audiences with his precise pacing and incredible vigor while interpreting Rossini's Otello. Now, the first Chinese-born conductor to have conducted opera at the mecca of opera houses is pouring his passion for classical music into his homeland.

The Milan performance has not been the only highlight for Muhai Tang, 66, who has built an overseas career over more than three decades. In 1983, at 34, he became the first Chinese to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. He later became a naturalized German citizen.

He began his tutelage under world-famous maestros like Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa after von Karajan invited him to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic. Prior to that, he had studied conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. His electrifying work in Berlin led to repeat appearances and also invitations from many of the world's leading orchestras (see fact box).

He made recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, Virgin, Decca and Teldec. The Guitar Concertos by Tan Dun and Christopher Rouse with Sharon Isbin and the Gulbenkian Orchestra, for Teldec, was awarded a Grammy in 2002.

Recruited by the state-level 1,000 Talent Plan, which aims to attract leading overseas returnees to benefit China's development, Tang has served as music director at Tianjin Symphony Orchestra since 2012. He also has been named "conductor laureate" of the China National Symphony Orchestra. The new roles have refocused his efforts on training and performances within China, to which he has brought bold creativity.

One example is the Integral Symphony of Mahler and Beethoven series he initiated in January 2015. The idea is to perform all the symphonies written by Gustav Mahler, the prominent Austrian composer of the late Romantic era, and fabled German composer Ludwig van Beethoven in 11 concerts for Chinese audiences within two years. Mahler and Beethoven together? Nobody had combined what might be considered two poles of Western classical music.

The Mahler and Beethoven series is risky but not rash. Tang and the musicians of Tianjin Symphony Orchestra have rearranged different movements of the two composers using their music's inner logic.

"I want to use Beethoven's Ode to Joy to invoke Mahler's tragic world and to activate the lost soul," Tang says. "Chinese audiences are beyond my expectations. They are more cultured and more tolerant than I had imagined before I came back to China."

Lu Sheng, head of the Tianjin Philharmonic Orchestra, says the orchestra is anticipating performances of Franz Joseph Haydn's music under Tang's direction next year. "Tang has a very high standard toward art, and he adds much strong personal charisma and interpretation to the composers' classical works," Lu says.

Western classical music is not rooted in China, but Tang believes China has soil receptive to its growth. "However, I have never thought of it as cultivating Chinese audiences. What I do is to present the music as best as I can."

Many think classical music is for the wealthy or intellectuals. "That is completely wrong," Tang says. "It's not about knowledge; it's about experience and feeling. You don't have to learn the significance or the musicians' profiles before you are ready to listen.

"Music speaks when language ceases. Music, at its worst, is described by words. Anybody, even the illiterate, can get goose bumps hearing music."

Tang, being born into an artistically inclined family in Shanghai, had a multitude of opportunities to get in touch with his creative side. His father, film director Tang Xiaodan, winner in 1984 of China's prominent Golden Rooster Award for best director, exposed his son to film, opera, ballet and musicals. His mother, Lan Weijie, a famous film editor, also supported his music studies. He often discussed music and painting with his elder brother, painter Tang Muli. As a result, Muhai Tang says he sees the visual and auditory arts as closely interlinked.

The conductor still remembers the shocking beauty of his first experience with live music when he was a child. He was having dinner with his father at the diner of the Shanghai Culture Club when he suddenly dropped his chopsticks: The boy had heard the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra practicing.

"It was the first time I'd ever listened to the live performance of a big symphony orchestra, instead of a recording on TV or radio. At that time I had no idea what that was, but I was overwhelmed."

His life of wealth and comfort changed, however, during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76). His celebrity father became a prisoner. Tang joined the army, and then became a factory worker before he finally was able to study composition and conducting at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

The ups and downs tempered the budding conductor, making him strong-willed yet calm. He says his experiences gave him a healthy dose of skepticism when dealing with art and those who taught him. "I learned from them, but they are not gods. I know all the merits and faults of my teachers. I always have questioned what they told me. Perfection does not exist in art. Everybody, me and they, needs to learn."

That's how he explained dealing with the stress of conducting veteran musicians in a prestigious orchestra at such a young age. It could have been fatal to his career had he been judged unqualified, especially in a business where some think a conductor's real career begins at 60.

"My motto is to overcome one of my mistakes per day, in knowledge, in my profession and in life," Muhai Tang says. He speaks Mandarin, English and German fluently and continues to study Italian. He says he thinks that only when he masters the language of so many famous operas will he understand the music and culture from which they came.

What Muhai Tang's Asian background added to his interpretation of Western classical music is sensitivity, he says. "Our language, emotions and artistic mood are exquisite. Western audiences are happy and surprised to see that."

That is also one of the reasons Muhai Tang has chosen Mahler's works for his two-year project for the Tianjin Symphony Orchestra. The Song of the Earth is a symphony Gustav Mahler composed after being exposed to a volume of ancient Chinese poetry translated into German. "He is one of the Western musicians who has the closest connection with China. He could feel the poetic Chinese beauty," Tang says. "It is time for the world to listen to Chinese symphony orchestra, with its unique charm and delicacy, to express their Chinese-style feelings."

In the conductor's room at Tianjin Concert Hall on Nov 22, Tang was scrawling in his music score and making last-minute adjustments to each movement. When his assistant told him that the entire orchestra was ready for rehearsal, he apologized and hurried to the stage.

The moment he had his wand in hand, he was like another man, like a general ready to lead thousands of cavalrymen into battle. But in this case, the players were not adults but children, most between 10 and 16 years old. He is a strict leader, without a doubt, but not as heavy-handed as his reputation would have it. He wrapped his criticism of the young players in pleasant humor.

That night a performance was scheduled for the young musicians, some of the nation's best, picked in the Little Angel Plan contest.

"As I get older, I give more love and care to the next generation, like I do for the 'Little Angels,'" Tang says.

Tang is energetic, like a perpetual motion machine. He is constantly in rehearsals, sometimes having to wolf down a meal between work sessions. On his busiest days, he has a concert and its rehearsal and an opera performance and its rehearsal.

But he seems to be satisfied with the tempo of his life. Unlike a capricious or temperamental artist, he is ready to raise his wand at almost any time.

"Some conductors only perform symphonies, some only do opera, and some do both. Symphonies are relatively rational and logical, while opera is more arbitrary and flexible. I love both. I like to challenge myself from every aspect."

One thing that keeps him energized is that, unlike in Western countries where most audiences trend toward older aficionados, there are many young faces among audiences in China. "Classical music in the West is confronted with fatigue, having reached its pinnacle. But in China, things are pretty promising, but only under the right guidance."

In February, Tang plans to lead a Chinese orchestra, the Shenzhen Symphony, in a Spring Festival concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC.

xiaoxiangyi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 01/01/2016 page30)