Yu Long/ Photo: tom.com

This year's Beijing Music Festival has fired up the enthusiasm of classical music fans more than ever before. 　　

Opened at the end of September and running for most of October, the festival includes 10 symphonic concerts, five chamber concerts, four operas and three recitals. For the first time, the festival has attracted the BBC Symphony Orchestra to play the same programme it played at this year's BBC Proms. 　　

The BBC Proms is a 111-year-old classical music festival, which many rate as the finest in the world. 　　

Andrew McGregor, a journalist from the BBC, did an interview with Yu Long, conductor of the China Symphony Orchestra and artistic director of the ongoing Beijing Music Festival, at the Forbidden City Concert Hall on October 18th. 　

Here is their discussion: 　　

 How important is it to the Beijing festival to have visits from orchestras and artists from the West? 　　

In the city, there is music of western tradition and there is traditional Chinese music as well, so this is the kind of balance that you try to find in the Beijing festival, a combination of traditions from the east and the west? 　　

Is it too early to say, or would you say that western classical music has already become an important part of cultural life in modern China? 　　

As conductor of the China Philharmonic Orchestra, when you choose the music for your own concerts, what guides your choices? 　　

Is there still the feeling that you’re educating your audience about western classical music as you're doing these programs?