To put the philosophies of YMCG into practice, a select group of young musicians under the age of 35 will join together to form the inaugural YMCG Symphony Orchestra. An ensemble especially established for the project, it promises to be filled with vitality, befitting the energy of Guangdong, at the forefront of China’s reform and open-door policy. Here, friendships will be made through music and a large extended family will be fostered by cultural fusion and exchange. Apart from performing at its operational base in Guangzhou, the YMCG Symphony Orchestra will also embark each year on concert tours to promote the YMCG project.

Since the official announcement of the YMCG Symphony Orchestra in October 2016, the organizing committee received more than 600 applications from almost 40 cities in Europe, America and Asia. These young musicians are based in such cities as New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Berlin, Dresden, Birmingham, Moscow and Vienna. They are students pursuing training in these famed cultural capitals. Musicians from Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Urumqi, Lhasa, Hohhot, Hangzhou, Xian, Kunming, Qingdao, Hong Kong, Macao, Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung have also applied to participate. Last but not least, young musicians currently working at the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra also hope to take part in the YMCG Symphony Orchestra.

It is Yo-Yo Ma’s wish that the inaugural YMCG project begins with a gathering of 80 musicians of Chinese descent from all over the world. The YMCG Symphony Orchestra will include Chinese overseas, Chinese nationals from different provinces and ethnic minority regions, as well as those from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.