‘A heart-to-heart exchange’: Philadelphia Orchestra visits China to share unifying power of music

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know! When cellist Yumi Kendall plays music for audiences in Asia with the Philadelphia Orchestra, they give music back to her. “A wall sound,” she said. “Solid applause with a really loud fortissimo.” Kendall was in a terminal at Incheon International Airport in South Korea on Nov. 10, waiting for a plane to take her and the orchestra into China. After 23 years with the Philadelphia Orchestra, she has watched Asian audiences change over time during her seven trips to China. “What’s changed in recent years is, they vocalize. ‘Woo-hoo!’ They cheer. Like more of what we hear in the West,” she said. “That’s been an interesting evolution of enthusiasm, which I love: the expressions of joy across the world.” The Philadelphia Orchestra is in China for the 14th time since its historic 1973 tour as the first Western orchestra to enter Communist China. This year’s Asian tour started with