Liu Fang

All Music Guide:

Liu Fang is one of the most renowned pipa players outside of China (the pipa is a traditional Chinese lute). Living in Montreal since 1996, she has performed concerts in America, Europe, and the Far East. She possesses virtuoso technique, grace, and a unique empathy toward the music she plays -- whether it is a traditional folk tune or a modern Western composition. Fang has recorded and/or performed the Chinese traditional pipa repertoire, modern compositions by Chinese composers (Tan Dun, Zhou Long), and premiered new works for the pipa by R. Murray Schafer and Melissa Hui.

Born in 1974 to a family of artists, Fang was a child prodigy. Her mother, an actress, took her to rehearsals, and at the age of six, she began to learn the pipa, a particularly big and difficult instrument. She gave her first public performance at nine and started to win provincial competitions. In 1985, at age 11, she performed for the Queen of England and three years later won first prize at the National Competition for Young Musicians. At age 15 she was accepted at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music where she studied pipa and guzheng (a Chinese zither) for three years. Upon graduation she went back to her hometown of Kunming to perform with the local music and dance troupe.

Despite support from the Chinese government, traditional music is often seen as more of the necessary furniture rather than an art form, and Fang was beginning to feel she could touch foreign listeners on a deeper level than her compatriots. After a trip to Germany in 1995 where she performed with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, she emigrated to Canada with her husband and settled in Montreal. She immediately made contacts in the city's Chinese district and began to perform. Erhu player Lei Qiang led her to Paul Etch, owner of the record label Oliver Sudden Productions. He released her first CD, Chinese Traditional Pipa Music, in 1997. Two years later, Fang's husband gave up his job as a meteorologist to manage her growing career. Since her arrival in Canada, the pipa player has received strong support from the community. The national radio has recorded many of her concerts. In 2001 she was awarded the Future Generations Millennium Prize, a one-time prize given by the government to three artists in different disciplines (music, literature, and visual arts). In February 2000 she toured with Kohei Nishikawa's ensemble. In September 2001 she premiered R. Murray Schafer's "The Palace of the Cinnabar Phoenix." She has also performed with the Nouvel Ensemble Modern and the Société de Musique Contemporaine du Québec.

Wikipedia:

Liu Fang (simplified Chinese: 刘芳; traditional Chinese: 劉芳) (born 1974) is one of the most prominent pipa players in the world. Described in the media as the "empress of pipa" (L'actualité), "divine mediator" (World), "the greatest ambassadress of the art of the pipa" (La presse), Liu Fang is known as “possessing virtuoso technique, grace and a unique empathy toward the music she plays – whether it is a traditional and folk tune or a modern Western composition” (All Music Guide). "She has an extraordinary focused, poised presence in her manner and her playing. In a lesser player this is just a trained formality; the body of material and techniques for her instruments is extremely highly developed, passed down through centuries. But Liu Fang’s total devotion to her playing has moved her beyond perfect execution to the creativity and flexibility that marks a true musician."(in the fRoots Magazine, 06.2006).

Biography

Born in Kunming in the Chinese province of Yunnan, she began playing the pipa at the age of 6. Her first solo public performance was at the age of 9. In 1986, at age 11, she played for Queen Elizabeth II. Her studies at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music broadened her musical range and allowed her to study the guzheng. At the age of 22, Liu Fang immigrated to Canada and is now a Canadian citizen, currently residing in Montreal. The decision to move to Quebec allowed her virtuosic playing to reach a wider international audience. Since 1999, she has performed hundreds of solo concerts featuring Chinese traditional and classical music on her two solo instruments - pipa and guzheng. Her profile has risen due to her rich and deeply spiritual performances as well as a wide ranging repertoire that features music from Chinese classical and folk traditions (including pieces rarely heard) as well as contemporary works from both east and west.

Side projects

Apart from her numerous solo concerts, Liu Fang has also many intercultural collaborations in terms of "Silk and Steel Projects", where "Silk" represents the traditional culture of China whereas "steel" is a metaphor for modernity and western culture. Her last album entitled "Silk Sound" (Le son de soie) featured musical dialogues with artists from three different continents and was awarded the grand prize of L'Académie Charles Cros, the French equivalent of the US Recording Academy.

Awards

Back in 2001, Liu Fang was the only musician to receive the prestigious "Future Generation Millennium Prize" awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts to three artists of different disciplines under 30 years of age. The words of the jury summed up her achievements rather succinctly: "Liu Fang's mastery of the pipa and the guzheng has established her international reputation as a highly talented young interpreter of traditional Chinese music. She aspires to combine her knowledge and practice of eastern traditions with western classical music, contemporary music and improvisation, thereby creating new musical forms, uniting different cultures and discovering new audiences."

Live performances

Liu Fang has made a number of national and international radio and TV appearances, produced several CDs. Liu Fang was invited as one of the featured artists by BBC World Service for the concert on November 7, 2003, dedicated to World AIDS Day. She performed at the 60th anniversary of UNESCO in Paris on November 16, 2005, and has also been honored by the government of Canada. She has performed with orchestras, string quartets and various instruments the works of many contemporary composers, including R. Murray Schafer, Tan Dun, Philip Glass, Janet Maguire, Ian Wilson, José Evangelista, Zhou Long, Melissa Hui, Diego Luzuriaga, Chen Yi, Toshiyuki Hiraoka, Yoshiharu Takahashi, David Loeb, Hugue Leclair, Simon Bertrand and Chantale Laplante, to mention a few, and has performed frequently with guitarist Michael O'Toole and the violinist Malcolm Goldstein.