TOURING IN CHINA
Touring in two directions “Askonas Holt’s first working visit to mainland China took place in the winter of 2002,” Senior Project Manager Jonathan Fleming recalls. He made the journey to Shanghai and Beijing with Martin Campbell-White, then Joint Chief Executive, and Vicky Lau, Project Administrator, where they visited a number of venues that were stirring international interest. Some of these were already well established, in particular the Shanghai Grand Theatre, but others looked very different to the gleaming edifices that we know today. “It’s curious looking back on that trip, and the fact that we toured Shanghai Oriental Arts Center and Beijing’s National Centre for Performing Arts when they were almost unrecognisable: essentially just big holes in the ground. And yet some hugely important relationships began on that trip and flourish to this day”, Jonathan says. “To have been there at that time was a stroke of genius or luck, or both.” Although Askonas Holt had already acquired extensive experience working in both Japan and Hong Kong – indeed one of the key figures
in its history, Sir Ian Hunter, founded the Hong Kong Arts Festival in the early 1970s – mainland China was uncharted territory. Three short years later, in 2005, Askonas Holt would bring the Berliner Philharmoniker to Beijing and Shanghai, marking the company’s first full tour of the country. Did the orchestra need much persuasion? “The Berliner Philharmoniker have always been an intrepid orchestra. I think a lot of players were curious about going to China: breaking new ground and meeting new audiences.” And many ensembles have since followed a similar path: of the 250 performances in 33 different countries the Tours team facilitated in 2017, more than 10% were in mainland China. Yet bringing top-class international orchestras and dance companies to China was never the exclusive aim for Askonas Holt: “One of the things that we wanted to achieve was to establish from the outset a twoway interaction with China, taking our most prestigious projects to these fantastic new venues, but also committing to bringing high-quality
Poster from Beijing Opera’s 2005 tour of the UK
From building site to major classical music hub: Lauren O’Brien looks back at Askonas Holt’s long relationship with mainland China
Programme from Berliner Philharmoniker’s 2005 Asia tour
双向巡演
