Ye Xiaogang (; born September 23, 1955) is one of China's most active and most famous composers 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 ...

Biography

Ye 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 flow ...

in 1955. He studied at the

Central Conservatory of Music The Central Conservatory of Music () is a prestigious leading public music school of China and a member of Double First Class University Plan and former Project 211. Its campus is in the Xicheng District of Beijing, China, near Fuxingmen Statio ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

from 1978 to 1983, under the composer Du Mingxin. He then studied at the

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York. It was established in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman. It offers Bachelor of Music (B.M ...

beginning in 1987."Ye, Xiaogang - Profile"
''Schott-Music.com''. His teachers include

Alexander Goehr Peter Alexander Goehr (; born 10 August 1932) is an English composer and academic. Goehr was born in Berlin in 1932, the son of the conductor and composer Walter Goehr, a pupil of Arnold Schoenberg. In his early twenties he emerged as a centra ...

. He teaches at the Central Conservatory of Music, where he serves as Assistant President"CCOM Leadership"
''en.ccom.edu.cn'' entral Conservatory of Music and vice dean of the composition department. His ''Starry Sky'' was premiered at the opening ceremony of the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

in Beijing. In the summer of 2006, Ye took part in the inaugural "Composer Alive!" transpacific correspondence project with

Accessible Contemporary Music Access Contemporary Music is a Chicago based contemporary music ensemble. In addition to giving live concert of music by living composers they have initiated several innovative web-based projects to help spread contemporary music to as diverse ...

in Chicago, Illinois. This project consisted of Ye composing a piece, ''Datura'', and sending its fragments as they were completed to Chicago, electronically. They were subsequently read by ACM's performance ensemble and posted to the Internet for Ye's approval. The project culminated with Ye traveling to the United States for the completed work's premiere performance.

Selected compositions

The ''Great Wall Symphony'' (2002) consists of nine

movements Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

, with vocal parts and traditional

Chinese musical instruments Chinese musical instruments are traditionally grouped into eight categories known as (). The eight categories are silk, bamboo, wood, stone, metal, clay, gourd and skin; other instruments considered traditional exist that may not fit these group ...

and

folk tunes Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...

are used in it. Ye composed the soundtrack to the documentary '' Rise of the Great Powers''.

Vocal

*''Twilight in Tibet'' for tenor, horn and orchestra, op. 41 (2002) *''The Song of the Earth'' for soprano, baritone and orchestra, op. 47 *''Poems of Lingnan'' for tenor, op. 62 (2011) *''Seven Episodes for Lin'an'' for soprano, tenor, bariton and orchestra, op. 63 (2011) *''The Road to the Republic'' (Cantate) (2011) *''The song of sorrow and gratification'' for Bassbariton and orchestra, op. 67 (2012)

Orchestral

*''Winter'' for orchestra, op. 28 (1988) *''Cantonese Suite'' for orchestra, op. 51 (2005) *''Sichuan Image'' op. 70 *''Tinjin Suite'' for orchestra, op. 75 (2015-2016)

Symphonies

*''Symphony No.2'' "Horizon" for soprano, baritone and orchestra, op. 20 (1984/85) *''Great Wall Symphony'' (2002) *''Symphony No.3'' "Chu" op. 46 (2004/207) *''Symphony No.4'' "Songs from the Steppe" *''Symphony No.5'' "Lu Xun" *''Symphony No.7'' "The Heroes"

Concerto's

*''The brilliance of Western Liang'' for violin and orchestra, op. 16 (1983) *''The Last Paradise'' for violin and orchestra, op. 24 (1993) *''Concerto of Life'' for piano and orchestra, op. 23c (2000) *''Pipa Concerto'' op. 31 (2001) *''Scent of Green Mango'' for piano and orchestra, op.42 (1998-2014) *''December chrysanthemum'' for flute and orchestra, op. 52b *''Starry sky'' for piano and orchestra, op. 56 (2008) *''Lamura Cuo'' for violin and orchestra, op.69b (2014) *''Mount E'mei'' for violin and orchestra, op.64 (2015-2016)

Chamber music

*''Springs in the Forest'' for zheng, op. 6 *''Poem of China'' for cello and piano, op. 15 (1981) *''San Die'' for zheng and flute op. 7a (1986) *''Enchanted Bamboo'' for piano, violin (2), viola and cello, op. 18 *''Hibiscus'' for 6 players op. 48 *''December Chrysanthemum'' for flute and piano, op. 52 *''Namucuo'' for piano, op. 53 *''Datura'' for flute, violin, cello and piano, op. 57 *''Colorful Sutra Banner'' trio for piano, violin and cello, op. 58 *Piano Trio op. 59 *''Basong Cuo'' op. 65 for zheng and 5 players, op.65 (2012) *''Gardenia'' for pipa and string quartet, op. 78 (2017)

Other

*''Therenody'' *''Tripdus'' *''Ballade'' op. 25 *''Shenzhen Story'' *''Macau Bride'' (Ballet-Suite) op. 34 (2001) *''Dalai VI'' *''Nine Horses'' *'' Rise of the Great Powers'' (2006) *''The Silence of Mount Minshan'' for strings, op. 73 (2015)

Recordings

* ''Symphony Nr.2'' "Horizon"— Wergo WER6646-2 (2004) * ''The Macau Bride'' op.34 (Ballett-Suite) — Naxos 8.573131 (2014) * ''Symphony Nr.3'' "Chu"— BIS records BIS-2083 (2016) * ''December Chrysanthemum'' (Chamber Music) — Delos DE3559 (2020) * ''Winter''— BIS records BIS-2113 (2021) * ''Violin Concerto'' op.64 "Mount E'mei" — Naxos 8.579087 (2021) * Mahler & Ye: ''The Song Of The Earth'' — Deutsche Grammophon (2021) * ''The Road to the Republic'' (Cantate) — Naxos 8.579089 (2021) * ''7 Episodes for Lin'an'' op.63 — Naxos 8.579088 (2022) * ''Sichuan Image'' op.70— BIS records BIS-2303 (2022)

Sources

External links

"Ye Xiaogang: Contemporary Composer"
''CCTV.com''. Interview, 2004.

''CRIEnglish.com''. Article, 2005-11-22 16:37:19. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ye, Xiaogang 1955 births Living people 20th-century classical composers People's Republic of China composers 21st-century classical composers Musicians from Shanghai Pupils of Alexander Goehr Pupils of Louis Andriessen Pupils of Samuel Adler (composer) Pupils of Joseph Schwantner Central Conservatory of Music alumni Academic staff of the Central Conservatory of Music Eastman School of Music alumni Chinese male classical composers Chinese classical composers 20th-century male musicians 21st-century male musicians