Shanghai's Forgotten Maestro

The rapid growth of Western-style classical music in China is by now a well-known story. Indeed, it is one repeated almost obsessively by classical music lovers in the West who are unnerved by the dwindling audiences they see at home, hopeful that China may prove to be the salvation of the music they so cherish.

A less well-known, but equally fascinating tale is how classical music from the faraway West ever came to sink such deep roots in China. It is one that involves religion, reform, revolution, politics, education – and a passionate belief in the power of great music to transform individuals and nations alike. It spans four centuries and is replete with larger-than-life characters, heroic and flawed (and both), whose names should be known to anyone who loves classical music but, sadly, are not. (My husband, Jindong Cai, and I became so enthralled by this history that we wrote a book about it called "Rhapsody in Red: How Western Classical Music Became Chinese.")