Ral connections bring ist worldwide renown
r in junior l saw his axophone ing along ack of the ophone or nd. acted by ent which nly sweet romance. er, a soloensemble f Sichuan m to learn
artist. She be an artrespect to o keep the in a world ing,” said
y agreed.
practice, d in the f Shangof Music th nearly graduated s in his
etown of p a band ide while at Sichuan usic. The ed at that purchase his desire usic skills
o Norway hool there arship of US$1,013before my candidate m expired, erlands. A ht School a former studied, ended me ang. “The nd maybe hat a stustudying y Western instrument.”
So Wang headed to the Netherlands to study music performance and art management.
“To pay the high living costs in Europe, I did manual work like washing dishes at a local Chinese restaurant. Among my colleagues were illegal immigrants who had no education background and whom I helped write letters to home. Sometimes I went to school smelling of cooking because I didn’t have time to take a bath,” said Wang.
In spite of such difficulties, he graduated with high scores and as an honored student. Meanwhile, he was also enrolled in the Erasmus Program, a talent exchange program once only open to European students, and furthered his studies at Berlin University.
In Germany he worked in international cultural communications for the German Ministry of Culture. Afterward he was employed by a European performing and production company and sent to Shanghai to open its Chinese market.
Noticing that the cultural institutions in China lagged behind in their industrialization process, a situation he would like to help improve, Wang quit his job with the European company in 2009 and started his own company, Asian Arts Connection, in Songjiang’s Thames Town.
Not only did he help world renowned troupes such as the Berlin Symphony Orchestra to stage performances in China, he also helped Chinese artists like Yang Liping, a famous dancer, and Shaolin kung fu performers to stage performances abroad.
In the past 10 years, Asian Arts Connection has helped promote around 1,000 performances at home and abroad, the total number of viewers amounting to several million. It also began producing its own performances. The music theaters and schools affiliated to Wang’s company also helped to promote art among children in the region.
“To be both a musician and an entrepreneur is a wonderful package for me. A musician had to learn how to promote and manage himself and entrepreneurship is also an art,” said Wang.
“The Dutch were nicknamed as ‘sea coachmen’ for they are good at doing trade. My graduate assignment at Utrecht School of the Arts was to stage a performance, a performance that finally earns money. We are not going to graduate and be another of society’s white elephants,” he added.