What is like to perform guzheng for a western composer’s film score such as “Mulan” (Disney 2021) that features traditional Chinese instruments? However, I have seen guitar players cover the songs that I wrote. The music I wrote was meant for the guzheng. Releasing two notable albums “Into The Wind” and “Year of the Funky” with producer/multi-instrumentalist Shawn LeeĪs a composer, do you write arrangements for guzheng that can be appropriated by other instruments in the same category, or does it stand alone?.Performing along with Christina Aguilera at the Jimmy Kimmel show in March 2020 right before the covid-19 pandemic lock-down.Being featured as a soloist performing with the Pacific Symphony at its 2018 Lunar New Year concert.Being featured on the cover of LA Weekly Magazine in May 2015 as one of “the Most Fascinating People of Los Angeles”.There are several career highlights that mean a lot to me. I don’t have a single one that means the most. What is the career highlight that means the most to you? These people and experiences gave me confidence and passion to devote my career to mastering this instrument. I had many great guzheng teachers such as professor Danxi Jiang, Mulan Hai, Chunjiang Teng and Lingzi Xu who nourished me musically and inspired me to progress. When I was twelve-years-old, I was admitted to a six-year pre-college music program at the Central University of Nationalities in Beijing, where I started to pursue Guzheng performance as a career path. During that period, I did many performances and won several local and national competitions. Professor Sha told me that I was gifted in music and had good musical intuition, and that was very encouraging. My parents found me a great teacher – professor Lijing Sha at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music, then I started to take private lessons with her on a weekly basis. ![]() I loved its beautiful sound and magnificent look. When I was 6-years old, I fell in love with the guzheng at first sight when I saw a good friend of mine playing it. Tell us about how you began playing the guzheng, and what inspired you to devote your career to mastering this instrument. With the expansion of information sharing and Internet media, the guzheng is also now the most well-known traditional Chinese instrument on an international level. Guzheng performances appear in big concert halls frequently. Modern guzheng compositions written by composers in the method of European classical compositions flourish. During the past thirty years, its popularity has increased exponentially in China once more. There are also several traditional folk playing styles created from different geographic regions of China. It has many classic and folk pieces inherited from the ancient time. The Guzheng was a very popular instrument in ancient China, appealing to both refined and popular tastes. Nowadays, the most common type is the twenty-one-stringed Guzheng. Today, modern Guzhengs have a variety of strings ranging from eighteen to twenty-seven (and sometimes more). ![]() Recent evidence shows that the ancient Guzheng had only five strings, but sometime later, that number increased to between twelve and sixteen strings. The Guzheng was used in both court and folk music in ancient China. Nowadays, the name “Guzheng” is more commonly known to people both in China and worldwide. Modern Chinese people added “Gu” before the word “Zheng” to express that this instrument is from ancient times. The Chinese word “Gu” ( 古 ) means “ancient”. Zheng became popular in Qin (a state in ancient China) during the Warring State Period, 475-221 A.D. It is a multi-stringed instrument with movable bridges under each string. The original name for Guzheng 古筝 (pronounced goo-jung ) is Zheng 筝 ( pronounced jung ). For those that are unfamiliar with a Chinese Zither or Guzheng, can you explain the history of the instrument and its significance in Chinese classical music? Learn about Bei Bei history with the ancient instrument and what to expect from her concerts at Casa Romantica in our written interview below. ![]() She is performing at Casa Romantica two nights in a row with one focusing on traditional compositions and another on her contemporary pieces. Bei Bei is our headliner for our Celebrating Chinese New Year programs that highlights Chinese-American artists and teaches about the history of their arts. As one of the world’s premier guzheng musicians, Bei Bei (Beibei Monter) has been prominently featured on Disney soundtracks, performed with global stars such as Christina Aguilera, and released several critically acclaimed original albums.
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