"In the early days of our relationship, nothing was simple. Everything was complicated. It took months to solve one small thing that we had different points of view on, and I had to deal with a whole bunch of crises," he says.
Western classical music was controversial in China at the time. Jiang Qing, wife of Chairman Mao Zedong, was in charge of the country's arts and culture. She decided on the program that the orchestra could play.
"Every piece of music we discussed until the last minute. She really liked Beethoven's Sixth Symphony while Ormandy really hated to play it. Thank God, I finally persuaded Ormandy to play this piece," he says.
Platt was later reassigned to work in places other than China but continued to act as a consultant to the orchestra.
In May 2010, the Philadelphia Orchestra performed at the Shanghai Expo. Allison Vulgamore, who had just become the orchestra's president and CEO, met Platt backstage.
She knew the orchestra had returned to China in 1993, 1996, 2001 and 2008, but she wanted to do more than just perform in concert halls. She wanted to do residency work and to engage Chinese music lovers both in concert halls and through community engagement.
"Over the years, China has changed dramatically and the relationship between the two countries accordingly changed. This is a turning point and we are proud to play an important role in the relationship," Platt says.
"China has been paying attention to enhance soft power. It has been largely urbanized and almost every city has a new beautiful concert hall. Therefore, we can communicate on how to train orchestras, how to get the halls to host more concerts. There are many more things we can do today."
With Platt's help, the orchestra and the National Center for the Performing Arts signed a five-year musical partnership from 2012. In 2012 and 2013, the orchestra's musicians gave master classes and played for the public at tourist sites and in local neighborhoods. They also performed for students in schools in Beijing.
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