US musician recalls historic visit that led to breakthrough

NEW YORK — More than 45 years after his first trip to China, Davyd Booth, a 69-year-old musician from the United States, still clearly remembers his trip.

“It was almost like we were going to a different planet,” says Booth, a violinist and second keyboard player with The Philadelphia Orchestra.

Playing a Yamaha piano at his home in New Jersey, Booth had been practicing a composition for a collaborative concert with Chinese musicians.

“That was an incredible mindblowing experience,” he says, recounting his 1973 visit to China.

When a young Booth read about China in schoolbooks and saw pictures of rice paddies, boats and ancient Chinese architecture, his curiosity was aroused and he “really envied the Chinese people” for having a history of several thousand years.

Booth was 23 when he visited China with The Philadelphia Orchestra.

Then, at the invitation of the then US President Richard Nixon, his orchestra became the first American one to visit the People’s Republic of China — a trip considered a key part of Washington’s rapprochement with Beijing in the 1970s.

That trip was significant “on several different levels: historically, musically, and probably most importantly, diplomatically”, says Booth, who says he felt honored to have taken part.

It was made possible by enormous joint efforts by Nixon, the renowned diplomatic figures Henry Kissinger and Nicholas Platt, and Eugene Ormandy, the orchestra’s music director, according to the veteran musician.

Booth attributes his becoming a member on the cultural mission to China to “an incredible amount of good luck”.

“At the very last minute I got a call (which) said that somebody had gotten sick and so they wanted me to go,” he says.

Booth made his professional music debut at the age of 13, but he couldn’t help marveling at the artistic accomplishments of Chinese musicians in interactions during that trip.

“China, even at that point, had a very strong connection with Western classical music, and the caliber the musicians had was already really phenomenally high,” says Booth, commenting on the Yellow River Concerto performed then by the Chinese artists as “fabulous”.

“Chinese musicians are at an incredibly high level. And each generation builds on the last one,” he adds, on collaborating with different generations of Chinese artists over the past 46 years of his tenure in the orchestra.

Calling the 1973 trip to China “two weeks of discovery”, Booth remembers almost every “surprise” and “interesting moment”, such as being introduced to traditional Chinese instruments and tasting Chinese cuisine.

“There were very few cars. And I had never in my life seen so many bicycles ... it would look like a sea of bicycles,” says Booth, describing Beijing’s streets back then.

Also, the Chinese all looked very much alike, wearing the same type of clothes and caps, and of pretty much the same color, he adds.

“The next time we were there was in the early 1990s. And then it was totally different ... I’ve never seen a country change so much and build itself up so quickly and so impressively,” says Booth, who is one of only four members of the 1973 trip who remain in the orchestra.

The Philadelphia Orchestra, which was founded in 1900, has a long and distinguished history of touring the world. And it is one of the most-traveled US symphonic ensembles.

And 20 years after its first visit, the full orchestra returned to China in 1993.

The orchestra enjoys a longstanding partnership with the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing and the Shanghai Oriental Art Center. And in addition, it has worked with the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra since 2016 in advancing cultural exchanges between the US and China.

“Our relationship with China has been one of our strongest and one of the most continuous and one of the longest,” says Booth, who has participated in about a dozen performances in China.

“It’s a living relationship to enjoy,” says Booth, while stressing the importance of people of different cultures communicating and interacting with each other through the universal language of music.

The Philadelphia Orchestra announced in January that this year it will visit China over May 16-28 — the orchestra’s 12th tour to China — to mark the 40th anniversary of US-China diplomatic relations.

People-to-people connections are vital to further cement bilateral ties, says the orchestra’s senior adviser Platt, who helped make possible the orchestra’s 1973 visit to China.

“And the orchestra’s 40-plus years of trusted partnership with China is helping to keep the two peoples together,” the former US ambassador says.