It's important to show Shanghai is not only a major financial center in the East, but also that culture and the arts are flourishing there, because the World Expo 2010 Shanghai is about to make the city the focus of the world, Yu said.
The history of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra is inseparable from that of Western music in China.
It was established by the Municipal Council, the governing body of Shanghai's International Settlement, the name of the combined British and American foreign concessions in Shanghai between 1854 and 1943.
The orchestra started as the Shanghai Public Band and had about 20 Filipino musicians and a French conductor. By the end of the 1920s, the orchestra had become one of the city's cultural treasures, attracting such star soloists as Fritz Kreisler and Jascha Heifetz.
In 1951 the orchestra had its first Chinese conductor, Huang Yijun. Under his baton, the 56-member orchestra employed more than a dozen foreign musicians, most from Russia.
Conductor Chen Xieyang worked as music director from 1984. In his 25-year reign, the orchestra has served as a distinguished musical ambassador and recorded the Oscar-winning soundtrack to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. But China has added more new orchestras in recent years, and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra has lost its leading position.
Yu took over early this year and begins his inaugural season this fall. The opening concert at Shanghai Grand Theatre on Sept 26 was well received. "The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra is back. Yu Long revived the old orchestra with passion and energy," said local critic Yang Jianguo.
By Chen Jie
Editor: Dong Jirong
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