The seminar will be followed by tea and refreshments in the Theatre Bar. All welcome.
Abstract:
It is a privilege and pleasure to bring together Professor of Practice CHENG Yu 程玉 (SOAS University of London), Dr LIU Lu 刘璐, Senior Lecturer and Discipline leader of Intercultural Music (Sydney Conservatory of Music), PhD student HE Shuiqingqing 何水清清 (UoB) and Professor of Composition Michael Ellison for this Intercultural Music Dialogue at University of Bristol. Together, we will explore the challenges of composer–performer collaboration, consider traditions in Chinese classical and contemporary music, and discuss performer agency, embodiment, improvisation, and musical meaning. We will focus on the pipa and guzheng, exploring the challenges of composer–performer collaboration. The talk will combine discussion, demonstration and a Q & A, with a short, improvisatory performance with guzheng, pipa and bağlama. We look forward to sharing ideas, music, and conversations with fellow performers, composers, students and scholars.
Bios:
Dr LIU Lu 刘璐 (also known as Lulu Liu) is a performer, researcher and educator. Her main focus is Chinese musical culture, specializing in the music and history of the pipa. As a researcher, her works have published by Asian Musicology, Routledge and Cambridge University Press. She has contributed a growing number of articles and chapters in journals and books while continuing to perform new pipa works by contemporary composers.
CHENG Yu 程玉 (Professor of Practice at SOAS, University, London) is a Pipa & Guqin soloist. Formerly pipa soloist at the Central Orchestra of National Music in Beijing, she later completed her PhD in Ethnomusicology at SOAS on Xi’an’s ancient musical traditions in the modern world. Her work includes the re-creation of the five-stringed pipa. She is founder of the award-winning Silk String Quartet, the London Youlan Qin Society, and of the annual London International Chinese Music Festival.
HÉ Shuǐqīngqīng (何水清清) is a gǔzhēng (traditional Chinese zither) performer and musicologist, currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Bristol under the supervision of Michael Ellison and Professor Amanda Bayley. Her paper, “Uncovering Authenticity: The Digital Transformation of China’s Remote Musical Traditions”, was presented at a conference at University College Cork, and received the Student Paper Prize.