RLPO chief conductor Vasily Petrenko tells Lew Baxter about fulfilling his dream of taking the orchestra to China

EVEN in rehearsals, there’s a subtle dazzle emanating from Vasily Petrenko that sprinkles a shower of that elusive X Factor dust around the drabbest of rooms, infusing a lightness of mood to a chat with the young Russian maestro about his thoughts on China, where earlier this week he arrived for a series of concerts.

Chinese music lovers across all genres are queuing up to lay on a warm reception for the willowy, blond, Russian who, with the Liverpool Phil in full flow, enraptured a Royal Albert Hall BBC Proms audience in the summer with a breathtaking interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony, which picked up a Gramophone Award last year.

Vasily is leading the distinguished Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra on a six-day debut tour of the “Middle Kingdom” that takes in Shanghai and the Beijing Music Festival, regarded as one of the most prestigious artistic dates in Asia and a cultural high spot between China and the West.

“It is something I have always wanted to do ever since arriving in Liverpool,” remarks Vasily, aware that his adopted city has been twinned with Shanghai for 10 years and is the only UK city to have a pavilion at the World Expo.

Indeed, this is a nice twist of serendipity for Petrenko, as his home town of St Petersburg has enjoyed sister city status with Shanghai since 1988. “And we Russians have been friendly allies with China for many decades,” he says, diplomatically overlooking the ideological discord with the USSR that lasted from the early 1960s until way into the 1980s.

“China’s leadership is now stressing that cultural exchange is important and it is marvellous that they are encouraging this,” adds Vasily.