Residency Programs

A very small number of foreign musicians find themselves in long-term academic- 18 -positions at the conservatory or professional level—low pay and complicated regulations regarding non-Chinese citizens are primary reasons why more have not yet joined the ranks.

There is very little infrastructure to support mid-length residency programs of a year or less, though individual artists find ways to independently align with teachers or conservatories, commonly to study traditional Chinese music. Ongoing “guest” positions on paper, as China Philharmonic's appointment of Krystof Penderecki as principal guest conductor, are indeed much more common, but lasting effects on the city's musical life are arguable. One reason for this situation is that the established institutions are still largely operating under established rules; these often have implicit if not explicit rules as to how funding can be steered toward international versus domestic recipients.