Ge Gan-ru (; born July 8, 1954) is a Chinese composer of contemporary classical music and a professor at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Biography

Ge Gan-ru was born in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, China. His early years were spent in the

Chongming Island Chongming, formerly known as Chungming, is an alluvial island at the mouth of the Yangtze River in eastern China covering as of 2010. Together with the islands Changxing and Hengsha, it forms Chongming District, the northernmost area of the ...

during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

. In 1974, he was originally enrolled by the Shanghai Conservatory, majoring in violin. In the third year, he switched to composition major. Ge Gan-ru's personal composing style was developed during the years back in Shanghai. In 1983, his first representable work ''Yi Feng'' (The Lost Style) came out being commissioned by

Frank Huang Frank Xin Huang (born September 5, 1978) is a Chinese-born American violinist and teacher. Since 2015 he has been the concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic. Previous to his position in New York, Huang was the first violinist of the Ying Qua ...

, who was still a student major in cello that year. ''Yi Feng'', though arranged for solo cellist, has a chamber alike character. The strings are retuned a tri-tone lower than regular pitch and the body of cello is considered as four separated parts. The composer requires the soloist to play on those four parts in order to create percussive timbres. The premiere took place in the same year by Huang. Its avant-generation aesthetic caused a burst discussion nationwide. Also in 1983, Ge Gan-ru was recommended by

Chou Wen-chung Chou Wen-chung (; July 28, 1923 – October 25, 2019) was a Chinese American composer of contemporary classical music. He emigrated in 1946 to the United States and received his music training at the New England Conservatory and Columbia Univer ...

to the

for his doctorate in composition. He is now a professor in the Department of Music, Columbia University. His works has been performed by The New York Philharmonic, BBC Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Lyon National Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, American Composers Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the

Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for almost 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classic ...

, Shanghai Quartet, Miami Quartet and many other ensembles. The copyright of his oeuvre are all kept by himself. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians describe him as 'China's first avant-garde composer'.

List of major works

Chamber

*String Quartet No. 1, ''Fu'' (赋, Prose Poem) *String Quartet No. 2 *String Quartet No. 3 *String Quartet No. 4, ''Angel Suite'' *String Quartet No. 5, ''The Fall of Baghdad'' (巴格达的沦陷) *Four Peking Opera Studies, for piano and string quartet *''Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!'' (错！错！错！), for toy piano etc. *''Hard! Hard! Hard!'' (难！难！难！), for toy piano etc. *''Yi Feng'' (遗风, The Lost Style), for cellist *''Gu Yue'' (古乐, The Ancient Music), for pianist *''Duration Instant'' (时值瞬间), for pianist

Orchestral

*Six Pentatonic Tunes (六首五声片段) *Chinese Rhapsody (中国狂想曲) *Shanghai Reminiscences (上海回忆录) *Fairy Lady Meng Jiang (孟姜女) *Loves Besieged (霸王别姬) *Butterfly Overture, dedicated to teacher Chen Gang (蝴蝶序曲，献给我的老师陈钢)

Concertos

*''Wu'', for piano and orchestra (兀，钢琴协奏曲) *''Yi Feng II'', for cello and orchestra (遗风II，大提琴协奏曲) estroyed by Composerref>

References

External links

Ge Gan-ru page
from sin80.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Ge, Gan-ru 1954 births Living people Musicians from Shanghai Chinese classical composers 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers Shanghai Conservatory of Music alumni Columbia University alumni Columbia University faculty