Musician who brought classics to communist China dies aged 99
Huang Feili left a promising career in the West to return to his homeland and help establish a new musical foundation
The eminent Chinese musician and conductor Huang Feili died at his home in Beijing on Monday at the age of 99.
Huang will be remembered for giving up a promising career in the West to return to communist China to help build musical institutions from scratch, a move he looked back on with mixed feelings.
Huang was born into a Christian family in Guangzhou and attended Pui Ching primary school before moving to Shanghai when he was 10.
He studied violin under R.B. Gerzovsky, a Russian and associate concertmaster in the municipal orchestra.
Huang completed his studies at the University of Shanghai in 1941, but was trapped in the city during the Japanese occupation.
To make ends meet, he played the violin in studio recordings and in an orchestra for the film director Fei Mu.