Min Xiao-Fen () is a Chinese-American
pipa
The pipa, pípá, or p'i-p'a () is a traditional Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets rang ...
player, vocalist, and composer known for her work in traditional Chinese music,
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 jazz.
Life
Min Xiao-Fen studied with her father, Min Jiqian (闵季骞), a music professor at
Nanjing University and a student of the
erhu master
Liu Tianhua. Her eldest sister,
Min Huifen, was nicknamed the "Queen of Erhu." Her brother, Min Lekang (闵乐康), is a national first-class conductor and music professor.
Min performed as a pipa soloist for the Nanjing National Music Orchestra from 1980 to 1992. She emigrated to the United States in 1992, first settling in San Francisco, California.
[Michael Heffley]
"Interview with Min Xiao-Fen"
(2009)
She has worked with numerous contemporary composers, including
Chen Yi,
Zhou Long,
Carl Stone, Anthony De Ritis,
Marc Battier, and
John Zorn
John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jaz ...
. She has worked with the jazz saxophonist
Jane Ira Bloom and in 2021 with Jazz guitarist
Rez Abbasi
Rez Abbasi (born August 27, 1965) is a Pakistan-born American jazz guitarist, composer, and record producer based in New York City.
Biography
Abbasi was born in Karachi, Pakistan. When he was four, his family moved to Los Angeles, and at eleven ...
on her album White Lotus. Min worked with
Björk
Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...
on the song "I See Who You Are" on Björk's album ''
Volta
Volta may refer to:
Persons
* Alessandro Volta (1745–1827), Italian physicist and inventor of the electric battery, count and eponym of the volt
* Giovanni Volta (1928–2012), Italian Roman Catholic bishop
* Giovanni Serafino Volta (1764–184 ...
'', released on May 7, 2007.
Min lives in New York.
Horowitz, Joseph
Joseph Horowitz (born 1948 in New York City) is an American cultural historian whose seven books mainly deal with the institutional history of classical music in the United States. As a producer of concerts, he has played a pioneering role in ...
"The Musical Odyssey of Min Xiao-Fen"
'' The New York Times'', March 3, 2005. Accessed June 18, 2009. "Ms. Min moved to New York in 1996. (She now lives in Forest Hills.)" She is also a founder of Blue Pipa, Inc.
Discography
*''Mao, Monk and Me'' (2017, Blue Pipa)
*''Dim Sum'' (2012, Blue Pipa)
*''
The Art of Improvisation'' (2005, Mutable Music) with
Leroy Jenkins's Driftwood
*''Min Xiao-Fen with Six Composers'' (1998, Avant)
*''Viper – Derek Bailey and Min Xiao-Fen'' (1998, Avant)
*''Spring, River, Flower, Moon, Night'' (1997, Asphodel)
*''The Moon Rising'' (1996, Cala)
*''Socket'' (Amulet)
References
External links
*
*
Min Xiao-Fen interviewfrom ''Global Rhythm'' magazine, August 2008.
Min Xiao-Fen radio program
{{DEFAULTSORT:Min, Xiaofen
21st-century classical composers
Chinese women singers
Women classical composers
Living people
People from Forest Hills, Queens
Pipa players
Place of birth missing (living people)
Singers from New York (state)
Year of birth missing (living people)