Plaudits for 29-year-old conductor whose baton shines in the spotlight of the first installment of Wagner's epic opera, Chen Nan reports.

Conductor Sun Yifan and the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra performing at the Xinghai Concert Hall in Guangzhou on July 16. The concert featured 14 renowned singers from around the world. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra's 2022-23 season closed with a concert on July 16. The eyes of the audience were on Sun Yifan, the 29-year-old conductor who stepped in for established conductor Yu Long.

Under Sun's baton, the orchestra and 14 star singers from around the world earned rave reviews for their performance of Richard Wagner's Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), which is the first of the four grand operas that constitute Wagner's 15-hour epic Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).

I never expected that I would cover him (Yu Long) to conduct such a large music work. I was very nervous and couldn’t sleep that night but I had to react very fast and got in the groove.

Sun Yifan, conductor

The concert was initiated by conductor Yu, the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra and Xinghai Concert Hall in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, where the concert was staged, to commemorate the 210th anniversary of the birth of Wagner.

For health reasons, Yu had to pull out of rehearsals and performing in July. About four days before the concert, Sun was told he would conduct.

"It happened one day after the rehearsal. When I was told that I would be the conductor of the concert, I was shocked. I never expected that I would cover him to conduct such a large music work. I was very nervous and couldn't sleep that night but I had to react very fast and got in the groove," recalls Sun, who had been working as the assistant conductor of Yu since early June.

"My job as assistant conductor was like working as an assistant chef. I prepare food ingredients for the head chef, helping the head chef develop and test new recipes, and keeping records of what food has been prepared and what ingredients were used," says Sun. "When I changed my position from assistant conductor to conductor, I had to change my way of thinking."

Stepping in for established conductor Yu Long, Sun conducts the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Wagner's Das Rheingold. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

He adds that luckily, the musicians of Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra and the all-star cast of singers, such as bass-baritone Shen Yang, tenor Christopher Ventris, and baritone Liu Songhu, were very supportive and helped the young conductor work efficiently.

"Those musicians from the orchestra and the singers are very experienced. Some of the singers have performed the opera many times so they know it well," says Sun.

One of the biggest challenges for Sun to conduct Das Rheingold was that he had to understand Wagner's musical innovation regarding how the music was composed.

"Wagner did produce an immense amount of theoretical writing so his music and his texts are closely related. When I studied his Das Rheingold, I studied the text and the language Wagner used, which is different from the German used today," says Sun.

The young conductor notes that after days of rehearsals, he was confident about the concert. Rightly so, the reviews were good.

"It was the first time that Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra performed Das Rheingold, and it was a great challenge not only for Sun Yifan but also for the orchestra. There was no intermission and the feedback of the audience was beyond our expectations," says Chen Qing, president of Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra.

Stepping in for established conductor Yu Long, Sun conducts the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Wagner's Das Rheingold. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Sun recalls that, "Although the work is about two and a half hours, it flies by. Physically, I was OK. After the concert, Yu Long told me that he is very happy about my performance. I was relieved."

It was not the first time that Sun stepped in for Yu. On July 30 last year in Shanghai, he conducted the world premiere of the symphonic poem, A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, written by Chinese composer Zhao Lin. The symphonic poem, initiated by Yu and commissioned by 23 Chinese symphony orchestras, was inspired by A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains, the classic artwork by Wang Ximeng, who completed the masterpiece during the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Sun also played the piano in the symphonic poem.

Sun learned to play the piano at the age of 6. His parents work at Zhengzhou University — his mother teaches Western philosophy and his father teaches quantum physics — and supported their son's music dream.

In 2005, Sun was enrolled to study at the primary school affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of Music and later the middle school affiliated to the same conservatory.

It was veteran conductor Zhang Guoyong's conducting classes that inspired Sun to become a conductor.

"I was a middle school student back then when I attended Zhang's conducting classes. He talked about the conductor's mission, logic, and role in an orchestra, which broadened my vision on classical music," says Sun, who later studied under Zhang at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 2014, where he gained his bachelor's degree in conducting and piano performance four years later.

Sun Yifan, conductor. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

He was the first prize winner of the 10th International Conducting Competition Jeunesses Musicales Bucharest in 2019. The same year, he went to study at Hochschule fur Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin in Germany, where he gained his master's degree. He has been working as assistant conductor at the China NCPA Orchestra — the resident orchestra of the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing — since 2022.

"There are many young talented Chinese conductors receiving attention thanks to the opportunities we have been offered by established conductors and professional symphony orchestras. I am very grateful," says Sun.

"The relationship between the conductor and the symphony orchestra is very different from what it was in the past, when conductors were seen as leaders, or let's say the 'big boss'," Sun adds. "Now, conductors lead and guide but it's also important for conductors to work with the orchestras and musicians. We listen, communicate and learn from each other. The ultimate goal is to present a great concert."

Now, he is preparing for a performance of the Giuseppe Verdi opera La Traviata by the NCPA, in which he is once again working as the assistant conductor for Yu.

Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn