Ge Gan-ru (; born July 8, 1954) is a Chinese composer of

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included seria ...

and a professor at Columbia University.

Biography

Ge Gan-ru was born in Shanghai, China. His early years were spent in the Chongming Island during the Cultural Revolution. In 1974, he was originally enrolled by the

Shanghai Conservatory The Shanghai Conservatory of Music () was founded on November 27, 1927, as the first music institution of higher education in China. Its teachers and students have won awards at home and abroad, thus earning the conservatory the name "the crad ...

, 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, 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 to the Columbia University 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,

Shanghai Quartet The Shanghai Quartet is a string quartet that formed in 1983. The quartet is made up of: first violinist Weigang Li, second violinist Angelo Xiang Yu, violist Honggang Li, and cellist Nicholas Tzavaras. On November 20, 2020 the ensemble announ ...

, 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