Yu Long says: "These young Chinese musicians are very talented, and they can all access music materials they want to read through the internet, something my generation's musicians consider a luxury."

Yu, born into a musical family in Shanghai in 1964, received his early musical education from his grandfather Ding Shande, a renowned composer, and went on to study at the Shanghai Conservatory and the Hochschule der Kunst in Berlin. On his return from Europe he played a leading role in the growth of classical music in China.

In 1992 he was appointed principal conductor of the China National Opera House in Beijing and served as its conductor for three years.

In 1998 he founded the Beijing Music Festival and was its artistic director from 1998 to 2018. The annual festival is now one of the largest classical music events in the country, at which opera, symphonic concerts, recitals and chamber music concerts are performed.

In the China Philharmonic Orchestra's 20 years it has become one of the country's top orchestras. In 2002, under Yu's baton, it premiered Mahler's Symphony No 8, one of the largest choral works in the classical concert repertoire, in China, with about 1,000 musicians performing onstage. In 2005 the orchestra undertook a world tour, visiting 22 cities in North America, Italy and the United Kingdom.

The following year it was the only Asian orchestra to play in a televised concert along with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic as a tribute to the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birthday.