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HOST: For many of us, the short Minnesota summer is a time for summer fun. But for a group of 70 young musicians, it'll be a time of sightseeing, exploring, and performing in Beijing, China. The Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphony just arrived in China and will be there for the next 10 days, visiting sites like Tiananmen Square and playing their music at venues around the city.

Well, joining us on the phone right now is Mindy Ratner, host of Minnesota Public Radio's Evening Classics program who's in China with the symphony? Ni Hao. Did I say that right?

- Hey! Ni hao.

HOST: [LAUGHS]

MINDY RATNER: How are you doing?

- I'm great. How are you?

MINDY RATNER: Oh, just having the most marvelous time.

HOST: Well, tell us about the trip.

- Well, the kids-- I left several days ago and have been doing some exploring on my own, visiting friends. I went to the radio and got to get reacquainted with people who I knew here when I lived here. The orchestra arrived-- what is today? Today is Friday. The orchestra arrived on Wednesday evening.

And then yesterday, we did some sightseeing, went to Tiananmen Square and to the Forbidden City. And more sightseeing today as well. And we just actually came back from a trip to the Beijing Experimental High School, where the orchestra gave a concert, also performed with the Chinese orchestra at that school, which is a very, very new organization.

The school is old, but the orchestra is only about five years old. So they're not quite as experienced, obviously, as GTCYS, but they made marvelous, marvelous music together. The kids got to meet the Chinese kids, all of whom speak very, very good English. There were a couple of pickup basketball games. It was really-- it really swell.

HOST: What do the kids in the symphony think about being in China?

MINDY RATNER: Well, I think they're just about-- they've gotten over their initial exhaustion, but now they're going to get into the serious jet lag, which will be kind of a problem for a few days. But I think they're really, really fascinated by everything they're seeing here. They've gotten to, as I said, to meet some Chinese kids, which is very, very good for them. When we went to Tiananmen Square yesterday, they were wandering around almost as if they'd been looking at skyscrapers. This city is so huge, and all the government buildings and Tiananmen Square and so on and so forth are on such a massive scale, that I think that some of these Minnesota kids were a little bit overwhelmed, but they were very, very impressed with what they saw.

HOST: It sounds like you are having a lot of fun. But I'm wondering, with relations between the US and Chinese government strained, are you or the students detecting any of those tensions as you travel in China?

MINDY RATNER: Absolutely not. In fact, I was quite struck today as we met some people, had an opportunity to chat with them. They always asked, [CHINESE]. What country person?

We'd say, [CHINESE]. I'm American. And in fact, just as I was coming back to the hotel so that we could have this conversation, the taxi driver wanted to know where I was from. And I told him I was American.

And he said American people are good people. So it was totally unbidden, just there it was. So I don't think people are feeling too terrible about us.

HOST: What kind of a reaction is the symphony getting from fans in China so far?

MINDY RATNER: Well, the only opportunity they've had to play was this afternoon. Well, I realize it's morning for you.

HOST: Oh, yeah. That's OK.

MINDY RATNER: It's evening for us already. But they did-- as I said, they went to this Beijing Experimental High School. And that was the first time they actually did any performing. And that was very, very well received.

HOST: It sounds like you're having a great time, Mindy. Thanks for checking in with us.

MINDY RATNER: Oh, my pleasure. [CHINESE] Bye bye.

HOST: Bye bye. Mindy Ratner is the host of Evening Classics on Minnesota Public Radio. She's in Beijing, China, with the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphony.