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Chinese music - classical music from traditional China, traditional folkroot music, and contemporary music - and beyond ...

Pipa soloist Liu Fang

Liu Fang is internationally acclaimed virtuoso performer of pipa (Chinese lute or guitar) and guzheng (Chinese zither or harp). She was born in Kunming (China) in 1974 and started her music career early as child prodigy. She moved to Canada shortly after graduation from the Shanghai Conservatory and started an impressive international music career as soloist. In the past decade Liu Fang has given numerous solo concerts, including venues such as SettemberMusica MiTo (2007), the Theatre de la Ville in Paris (2006) and Philharmonic Hall of Liege (Belgium, 2006), BBC concerts in London (2004, 2007), Radio-Canada concerts in Canada as well as international music festivals such as Lewes Guitar Festival, the International Bath Festival and WOMAD in UK; the Chord Ennis International Music Festival (for classical guitar) in Ireland; Festival de Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, Festival des musiques du monde les suds à Arles and Festival Les Escales de Saint Nazaire in France, TFF Rudolstadt in Germany, and most of the major folk music festivals in Canada. Liu Fang has also performed with orchestras and string quartets, and collaborated with great musicians from various music traditions. Liu Fang's music playing has received ravish reviews from the media and the audience alike.

Liu Fang's repertory includes Chinese music of both classical and folk traditions, contemporary music for pipa and guzheng solo, compositions for pipa with string quartet, and pipa concertos with orchestra, as well as free style improvizations. Liu Fang also collaborates with master musicians from various cultural backgrounds and musicial traditions. She has received a number of grants from the Canada Council of the Arts and from Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec for various projects. In 2001, she received the prestigious Future Generations Millennium Prize. In the jury's words: "Liu Fang's mastery of the pipa and the guzheng has established her international reputation as a highly talented young interpreter of traditional Chinese music. She aspires to combine her knowledge and practice of eastern traditions with western classical music, contemporary music and improvisation, thereby creating new musical forms, uniting different cultures and discovering new audiences."

Liu Fang has released 9 albums. Her recent album in collaboration with musicians from African, Indian and Arabic music traditions has won her the prestigious French Acedemie Charles Cros Award. For detailed information, please visit: liufangmusic.net or www.philmultic.com.

Pipa, one of the oldest Chinese traditional music instruments, is four stringed lute that belongs to the same family as guitar, oud, and many others. Guzheng is another traditional Chinese instrument with 19-26 strings (commonly 21 strings today) spanned over movable bridges. Guzheng is the parent of Japanese koto, Korean kayagum, Vietnamese dan tranh and Mongolian Yagta. They all belong to the zither family. Both pipa and guzheng have well documented history of over 2000 years.

Pipa and percussion duet "The night of the Bonfire Fest" (Huobajie zhi ye), composed by Wu Junsheng for pipa solo, performed by Liu Fang, accompanied by Ziya Tabassian on framed drum.(Curtesy of CH Montreal, Chinese TV Channel, Mr. Zhou Fan). More Videos (in youtube)

[August 2008]Philmultic proudly announce the release of the new CD of duo pipa & guitar entitled "Changes" Liu Fang & Michael O'Toole The combination of pipa and guitar gives an incredibly fresh perspective to existing masterpieces from traditional Chinese repertoire to composers such as Vivaldi, Bartok, Philip Glass and Piazzolla. In addition to this, the recording contains beautifully sensitive performances of new works by Ian Wilson and Toshiyuki Haraoki (world premiere). Through the wide varied nature of the repertoire on the cd we would like to show how successful this combination can be in the hands of two such talented musicians. More information and music samples ==>

Pipa solo albums The soul of pipa Vol. 1-3 (3 volumes) are an anthology to Chinese pipa music. They represent respectively the most ancient classical repertoire for which composers remains anonyms (Vol. 1); the time evolution of classical repertoire from the ancient traditions to the recent compositions (Vol. 2), and the various folk roots from different parts of China (Vol. 3). It is a great work on pipa music done by a single musician, " ...a veritable feast of alluring sounds, ranging from the eloquent and lyrical to the flamboyant and percussive. The varied soundscape produced by one player and one instrument is quite dazzling. Liu Fang's masterly technique (e.g. tremolo, delicate harmonics, lyrical tunes, and boisterous percussive effects), as well as the music itself - which is based on short sections characterized by ever-changing tempos and dynamics - all evoke an improvised and exciting quality..." - The wholenote Magazine, 2003.

Guzheng solo album - Emerging Lotus (Chinese traditional guzheng music) consists of 7 pieces from the classical tradition, 2 recent compositions, and 3 folk tunes

collaborations - 4 albums of different collaborations in duo and ensembles, including the most recent one under the French label "Accords Croises" - Le son de soie which received French Acedemy Charles Cros award in 2006.

Music and friendship - A true story about the guqin master Boya and his friend Zhiqi, see Liu Fang's Blogs.

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