7 mins
Yehudi Menuhin School to set up new institution in China
The Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey, UK
The UK’s Yehudi Menuhin School (YMS) is to set up its first international music school in Qingdao, China. Working with the Qingdao Urban Construction Group, The specialist music school is planning the opening for 2022–23.
As part of the project, there will be opportunities for teacher and pupil exchange, and UK sta. will visit regularly to carry out inspections to make certain that the new school is adhering to the ideals of its British parent institution.
A city of ten million people, Qingdao is located between Beijing and Shanghai, just across the water from both South Korea and Japan, enabling the Yehudi Menuhin School China to attract talent from all across the region. Zamira Menuhin Benthall, Yehudi Menuhin’s daughter, long-time governor and the school’s vice president, said: ‘I vividly recall how my father talked of his deep love and admiration for China, which he visited several times, having always been fascinated by its culture. My father was always a passionate advocate for music as a universal language, overriding di.erences of nationality and politics. I believe we all support this goal and I trust in the people of Qingdao to make it a reality.’
David Buckley, the school’s chair of governors, said that YMS’s aim was ‘to replicate the unique model for music education that Yehudi Menuhin created to attract the highest levels of talent in the region and to develop opportunities for cultural exchange between our countries’.