Liu Fang - Chinese Traditional classical music for pipa & guzheng
Telus Studio Theatre
"Masterful, graceful and riveting." - BBC London (UK)
An Asian Heritage Month PREVIEW CONCERT (explorASIAN Festival)
Montreal resident Liu Fang has achieved an international reputation for her virtuoso and deeply spirited pipa playing, and is regarded by many as the most eminent pipa soloist in the world. For the uninitiated, the pipa is a four string lute and one of the oldest Chinese music instruments. Whether performing Chinese classical or folk tunes or a modern Western composition, Liu Fang is renowned for possessing a uniquely masterful technique and a special grace and empathy for the music she plays.
She has produced 9 solo and collaborative CDs, and was awarded the Millennium Prize for Future Generations by the Canada Council and the respected French Academie Charles Cros Award (the French "Grammy") in 2006. Liu Fang continues to perform in solo concert around the world, as well as with symphony orchestras, string quartets and ensembles and has collaborated with musicians from different cultural backgrounds. She has been featured in numerous national and international TV and radio performances.
Celebrated in the press as being a "divine mediator" (World, 2006), "the empress of pipa" (L'actualite) is able to transmit in an erudite and powerful way the beauty and richness of China's ancient music and the subtle yet profound nuances inherent in the instruments she plays.