Chicago-based WFMT Radio,one of the largest producers and distributors of classical, jazz and folk music radio programs, has signed an agreement with the Shanghai East Radio Company to enhance cultural ties between the U.S. and China with an exchange of classical music.
The popularity of classical music in China has grown in recent years, prompting many American orchestras to tour there and to establish long-term relationships with Chinese institutions. It has also brought a growing number of Chinese orchestras and soloists on tours to the United States.
Starting next month, the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony will be broadcast on a weekly radio program in Shanghai and programs from the Shanghai Spring International Music Festival will be broadcast next year on radio stations in the United States.The agreement between the two radio networks includes a new two-hour weekly radio series to be heard every Friday at 7:00 p.m. on Shanghai Classical 94.7 FM.
“American orchestras have been going to China for years, and Chinese orchestras have been coming here,’’ says Steve Robinson, the general manager of the WFMT Radio Network. “But this uses the power of radio to bring these orchestras into people’s homes.”
In addition to orchestral programs from the United States being broadcast by Chinese radio, WFMT will travel to China in April to produce a series of programs from the Shanghai Spring International Music Festival (SSIMF). This series of programs will feature Chinese classical and national music as well as performances of Western classical music by Chinese ensembles. This event will mark the first time Chinese ensembles, recorded live in China, will be heard as a series on U.S. radio stations. Through its membership in the European Broadcasting Union, WFMT will also syndicate the programs to European radio stations and to stations in other countries around the world.
Mr. Zhao Weiping, Consul General of The People’s Republic of China in Chicago, commented on the significance of the cultural accord: “With this project, a new channel has been established for China – U.S. cultural exchanges. It is obviously quite significant.”
