Arts in the Cloud | Wu Man: Everything Begins from Nothing

Speaking of Pipa, you may hear a clear and sonorous sound in your ears,

The performances, soft and light, or mighty and grand, gradually emerge.

In memory, it has always been one of the most distinctive Chinese musical instruments ...

It may be hard to imagine that when music breaks through its limits and is imparted a new life,

it can be like this

https://v.qq.com/x/cover/mzc00200s3kfpfk/l0868nvnye7.html

Like this

https://v.qq.com/x/page/k0852fvmuyl.html

And like this

https://v.qq.com/x/page/k0502ul8ljx.htm

As a Chinese musician, she combined Pipa with different music, broke the boundaries of culture and musical imagination, and created one legend after another in the international music circle.

Some people say that when it comes to Pipa, many Western audiences will first think of her - Wu Man.

Recognized as the world's premier Pipa virtuoso and leading ambassador of Chinese music, Wu Man has carved out a career as a soloist, educator, and composer and has appeared in more than 40 albums, including a Grammy winner with the Silkroad Ensemble ("Best World Music Album") and five additional Grammy nominees. She was named Musical America's 2013 Instrumentalist of the Year. Her adventurous spirit and virtuosity have led to collaborations across artistic disciplines, allowing her to reach wider audiences as she works to cross cultural and musical borders.

She is also a founding member of the internationally renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma's "Silkroad" music project, and she "looks for the common source of music and develops a new musical language" in the cooperation of Eastern and Western music.

Her cooperation projects cover a wide range of art fields and the cooperative partners ranged from rural folk artists to international masters, crossing cultural boundaries through musical cooperation.

She has once planned and hosted part of the programmes for the "Chinese Art Festival" at the famous Carnegie Hall in the United States. She brought traditional music of memorial ceremonies and festivals into the Carnegie Hall, enabling Chinese folk musicians to play leading roles.

In recent years, Wu Man has paid attention to international affairs, becoming the first Chinese musician in history to go to a refugee camp in Jordan to give consolation to Syrian refugees and participating in a cooperative project among musicians in the Silk Road region. The aim is to achieve mutual understanding and respect through musical and cultural communication.

She has also served as a judge of music at the Bunting Institute of Harvard University, a judge of the National Composer Foundation, a distinguished visiting professor at the Center for Early Music Research in Asia and the Middle East at Arkansas State University, a member of the China Music Advisory Board at Carnegie Hall in New York, a board adviser to the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, and a member of the Glen Gould Music Foundation of Canada. In recent years, Wu Man has actively and passionately participated in Chinese music education. She launched a national music tour, and served as a special professor of Zhejiang Conservatory of Music and the director of the Silk Road Performing Arts Center of the Conservatory, and visiting professor at Xi'an Conservatory of Music and her alma mater, the Central Conservatory of Music.

She said: "The earth is like a big tree. Many branches are like different cultures and countries. Or we can say that different nations seem to be far away from each other and there's hardly any communication. It seems that they are not familiar with each other. But in fact, if we all come together, we will find that we all originate from one root on the same earth, and many things are the same."

At 10 am on Sunday, let's look forward to hearing more wonderful stories about art and culture from Ms. Wu Man.

Arts and Living Lecture Series of CUHKSZ V

【Theme】

Start from Scratch

【Guest】

Wu Man, World's Premier Pipa Virtuoso

【Time】

22 March 2020 (Sunday) 10:00-11:00

【Live Streaming】

*Without authorization, please do not record or repost the lecture.

Brief Introduction of the Guest 

Wu Man | World's Premier Pipa Virtuoso

Pipa virtuoso and composer Wu Man is an ambassador of Chinese music, creating a new role for her lute-like instrument in both traditional and contemporary music. Brought up in the Pudong School of Pipa Playing, Wu Man became the first person to receive a master's degree in Pipa Performance from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She is an original member of the Silkroad Ensemble, a frequent collaborator with the Kronos Quartet and Shanghai Quartet, and has performed in recital and as soloist with major orchestras around the world, regularly premiering new works. Wu Man has appeared in more than 40 albums, including a Grammy winner with the Silkroad Ensemble ("Best World Music Album") and five additional Grammy nominees. She was named Musical America's 2013 Instrumentalist of the Year, but the best measure of her achievement is that her instrument, which dates back 2000 years, is no longer an exotic curiosity. In 2017, the book The Song of Pipa Lute Along the Silk Road: Master Wu Man's Narration of World Music and Culture was published by Shanghai Conservatory of Music, which is a record of her musical experience and growth.

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