The role of the Moscow Conservatory in the fate of "the mother of the Chinese choir" Yu Linfen

The subject of this study is an important stage in the professional development of the outstanding Chinese conductor Wu Linfeng, associated with his internship at the Moscow State Conservatory named after P.I. Tchaikovsky in 1986-1987. The object of the research is to examine the influence of Russian and Soviet choral culture on the formation of the Chinese school of choral conducting. The goal of this article is to explore the pathways of the choral conductor profession development in China and to determine the role of the Moscow Conservatory in this process. The author discusses various aspects of the topic, such as the cultural interaction between the USSR and the PRC in the 20th and 21st centuries, tracing the history of the influence of Russia's largest music institution on the establishment of the choral conducting school in China. A number of key figures among Soviet and Russian musicians who contributed significantly to this process are identified. The author notes that choral conducting education in Russia is characterized by philosophical and aesthetic depth, semantic concentration, and technical proficiency. The choral conducting school of the Moscow Conservatory has a profound influence on the formation of the national conducting art in contemporary China, thereby highlighting the vital intercultural connections between the two countries that are important in our time. The methodology consists of a synthesis of historical-theoretical and verbal-communicative methods. Based on archival materials, the history of Wu Linfeng's education at the Moscow Conservatory is revealed. The research experience is aimed at establishing connections between the Russian school of choral conducting and the development of modern Chinese choral art. The main conclusion of the conducted research is the paradigm of deep mutual influence and enrichment in the musical arts of Russia and China. In particular, this position has become a determining factor in the musical education of Chinese students at the Moscow Conservatory. A special contribution of the author to the topic is the study of the professional development of Wu Linfeng, which has not previously been the subject of special research. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that archival materials about the education of the now prominent choral figure in China, Wu Linfeng, at the Moscow Conservatory are presented for the first time. Attention is drawn to the need to study the historical aspects of the establishment of the national school of choral conducting in China, related to the traditional Chinese musical thinking and the shift towards mastering the Russian conducting and choral tradition.

Moscow Conservatory, Chinese music, Russian music, musical thinking, national art, choral art, choral music, choral performance, choral conducting, choral ensemble