The Youth Symphony Orchestra
Affiliated to the South China University of Technology ,YSO has 96 faculty members, with an average age of 21. It is composed partly of students from the Department of Music in School of Arts of SCUT, partly of the teachers from the same department. Wang kuangyi, acts as the president of the Orchestra.
In April 2006, YSO successfully performed W.A Mozarts works including Symphony op.41 in C major, ‘Jupiter’ and Piano Concerto No.20 on the concert in commemoration of his 250th birthday held in Guangzhou. In June 2007 , Symphonic Concert in Celebration of 30th anniversary of Pop Music’s Innovation in Guangdong , which was thematized as Everlasting Love , was premiered by the YSO, causing a great stir across China .
In November 2007 , YSO achieved its great success in Sister Jiang, a large-scale symphonic oratorio.
great success was achieved in the performance of classic works such as Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor ,Ludwig Van Beethoven’s the Eroica Symphony (op.3), Antonín Dvořák’s The Symphony op. 9 in E Minor "From the New World" . Soon after that the New Year's Concert has become a prominent culture brand for SCUT.
In September 2008, YSO won great admiration for its success in the Concert in Celebration of 30th Anniversary of the Reform and Opening to the Outside World in Guangdong , which had been thematized as the Great Banner.
In May 2009 , YSO successfully performed in the 67th anniversary Symphonic Concert for Mao Zedong’s works -Talks at Yen’an Synposium On Literature and Art and the 40th anniversary Symphonic Concert for the Campaign of Educated Urban Youth Going to work in the Countryside beginning in 1969.
In December, 2012 , YSO also achieved a great success in performing the 100th Anniversary Concert for Ma sicong’s works and successfully performed the Nostalgia in cooperation with Li Chuanyun, the world famous violinist.
The YSO’s performance has covered a wide area , the main accumulated musical pieces include Georges Bizet’s L' Arlésienne, Bedřich Smetana ’Vltava, Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, Jacques Offenbach ‘s Orpheus in the Underworld, Johann Strauss ’ waltzes . Other musical pieces include Ode to the Red Flag by Lv Qiming , suite Red Women Army by Wu Zuqiang and Du Mingxin, piano concerto the Yellow River by Ying Chenzong , waltz by Johann Strauss and some other works of orchestral music.
The Chorus has long cherished the responsibility to develop and expand the art of music by participating in various activities for spreading classical arts. It has played active and major role in attending a series of important performances such as the heart-to-heart with the people in Guangdong and the campaign for spreading classical arts into campuses, which were organized by Ministry of Education. Meanwhile, the chorus members have increased their performing skills through rigorous training and full practical activities. Now they have owned the perfect faculty to reveal the essence of music works and the reputation for it. The following performances are on the list of their ongoing process: the opening ceremony of the college tennis tournament of Asia in 2006, the symphonic choral concert for the 30th anniversary of pop music progress in Guangdong Province, the major symphonic cantata-Sister Jiang: the Great Banner—the 30th anniversary concert for the implementation of the reform and opening policies in Guangdong, the 67th anniversary concert for the publication of Mao Zedong’s works Talks at Yan'an Symposia on Literature and Art and the 40th anniversary symphonic concert for the campaign of educated urban youth working in the countryside and mountain areas. In 2008, the chorus, the only representative team of Guangdong, ranked 6 at the second round of CCTV youth singing competition.