Cantonese music, also known as Guangdong yinyue, is a prominent genre of instrumental ensemble music that originated in Guangzhou and the surrounding regions of the Pearl River Delta in China (Ruihua Liang, 1993). Its roots can be traced back to Cantonese opera, a vibrant form of multimedia entertainment that blends singing, instrumental music, martial arts, narration, and acting. Many works within the Cantonese music tradition have evolved from instrumental accompaniments originally devised for the Cantonese operatic form, gradually developing into an independent musical genre.
This presentation will examine how the musical features of Cantonese music will inspire my compositional process and development. I will begin by introducing the essential characteristics of Cantonese music, offering insight into its rich and enduring traditions, including instrumentation and tonality. Following this, I will present a series of compositions that will draw inspiration from these musical principles, written for different instrumental settings. By exploring these diverse instrumentations, which have been incorporating Chinese musical inspirations and flavours, this discussion will investigate the possibilities for the development of Cantonese music from a composer’s perspective.
Keywords: Cantonese music, music composition, traditional Chinese culture.
Bio: Kiko Shao is an active composer from Hong Kong, currently based in the UK. She received her PhD in music composition at the University of Hong Kong and Master of Music at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. She is currently a lecturer in Music and Co-Director of Admission and Recruitment at the School of Music.
Notable recent composition achievements include receiving the Doming Lam Composition Award 2025 from the Hong Kong Composers’ Guild and the Acapela Studio Award for Composer 2025 from the Welsh Music Guild. Kiko was also selected for BBC Composition: Wales 2025, and her orchestral piece was premiered by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in March. She was commissioned by Wales’s new music ensemble UPROAR to write a large ensemble piece, Floating Theatre, which toured across Wales in March 2025. Kiko was also selected for the Music Salon Concert by the Hong Kong Composers’ Guild, where her work was premiered by the Mivos Quartet in May 2024. In addition, she was shortlisted for the ISCM World Music Days 2023 and selected for the Psappha Contemporary Ensemble's Composing for… scheme. Her piece Throwback premiered at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama as part of the CoDi Lead programme by Tŷ Cerdd.
Beyond the UK, Kiko's compositions have been performed globally. She was the selected young composer at Germany's Young China: Ten Talented Composers chamber music festival. She also won the third prize in the Seventh ConTempo New Chamber Music Composition Competition in China. Kiko’s works have been performed by major ensembles and players such as the Riot Ensemble in the UK, American Mivos Quartet, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts Orchestra, Windpipe Chinese Music Ensemble, Yuanyang Chinese Music Ensemble of Central Conservatory of Music, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Szymanowski Quartet, and Sonar Quartet in Germany, Treephonia ensemble in London, etc. Passionate about education, Kiko is also a trustee of the Tŷ Cerdd Wales Welsh Music, and a member of Hong Kong Composer Guild and Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong.
Kiko Shao profile: