A special Spring Festival concert featuring two renowned musicians, Dr Cheng Yu and Liu Menglin on China’s silk 丝 and bamboo 竹 instruments.
Silk and Bamboo, “sizhu” describes string and wind instruments in China with silk being the traditional material from which strings were historically made and bamboo being used to make flutes and other wind instruments. Sizhu became a term to describe instrumental music, particularly that which is played indoors.
The programme for this special sizhu evening at China Exchange will evoke the arrival of Spring and showcase a variety of classical Chinese instruments including pieces played on the guqin 古琴 (seven-stringed zither); the pipa 琵琶 – four-stringed lute; the hulusi 葫芦丝 (a gourd flute); and the dizi 笛子(bamboo flute). The music selected for the concert includes Flowing Water 流水; Three Variations on Plums blossom 梅花三弄; Moonlit Night by the Spring River; and Fernleaf Bamboo under the Moonlight 月光下的凤尾竹.
For learn more about our Chinese New Year programme of events, click here.
About the performers
Cheng Yu is an internationally renowned pipa and guqin virtuoso, scholar and specialist in Chinese music. She holds degrees in Chinese music from the Xi’an Conservatory of Music, China (BMus.) and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and the University of London (MMus, PhD). She performs, records and researches both traditional and contemporary Chinese music, and does cross-cultural music collaborations.
Liu Menglin is an internationally acclaimed bamboo flautist. Since coming to the UK in 2014, Menglin has completed a Master’s degree in Community Music and is now studying for her second MA in research on Chinese and Western music exchange at York University.
This event is produced in partnership with UK Chinese Music: www.ukchinesemusic.com