Yelian He ( , ''Mandarin: hé yè lián'') is an Australian/Chinese classical concert cellist and martial arts teacher. 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 ...

and raised in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Yelian began studying the

Cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

at the age of 5, almost two years after he commenced studies on the

Piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

with his father. Hailed as a “consummate master of the bow” by The Strad magazine in his

Wigmore Hall Wigmore Hall is a concert hall located at 36 Wigmore Street, London. Originally called Bechstein Hall, it specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals. It is widely regarded as one of the world's leadin ...

debut, He is the winner of the 2009

Royal Over-Seas League The Royal Over-Seas League (ROSL) is a not-for-profit members' organisation with international headquarters in its clubhouse in central London, England. Founded by Sir Evelyn Wrench in 1910 as the Over-Seas Club, it was given a Royal Charter ...

String Competition in London as well as the Grand Prize and Audience Prize at the 2014 Australian Cello Awards competition in Sydney.

Early life

Yelian He was born in Shanghai, China. He emigrated to Australia in 1992 with his family where he furthered his studies at

Scotch College, Melbourne (For God, for Country, and for Learning) , established = , type = Independent, day and boarding , gender = Boys , denomination = Presbyterian , slogan = , ...

. Yelian graduated with a B.Mus from

University of Melbourne Faculty of VCA and MCM The Faculty of Fine Arts and Music (formerly known as the Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music) is a faculty of the University of Melbourne, in Victoria, Australia. It is located near the Melbourn ...

on an Otti Veit Scholarship, and subsequently relocated to Manchester to study with Karine Georgian at the

Royal Northern College of Music The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is a conservatoire located in Manchester, England. It is one of four conservatoires associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In addition to being a centre of music education ...

where he graduated with a master's degree in Music.

Career

In 2009 Yelian won the string section in the Royal Over-Seas League 57th Annual Music Competition, and was the Grand Prize winner in the 2014 Australian Cello Awards, winning a host of awards in Sydney's Verbrugghen Hall. Yelian has given recitals and performances at

Queen Elizabeth Hall The Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England, that hosts classical, jazz, and avant-garde music, talks and dance performances. It was opened in 1967, with a concert conducted by Benjamin Britten. The ...

St John's, Smith Square St John's Smith Square is a redundant church in the centre of Smith Square, Westminster, London. Sold to a charitable trust as a ruin following firebombing in the Second World War, it was restored as a concert hall. This Grade I listed churc ...

Bridgewater Hall The Bridgewater Hall is a concert venue in Manchester city centre, England. It cost around £42 million to build in the 1990s, and hosts over 250 performances a year. It is home to the 165-year-old Hallé Orchestra as well as to the Hallé ...

Melbourne Recital Centre Melbourne Recital Centre is a venue for live music in Melbourne and welcomes over 200,000 visitors each year. The organisation programs and presents more than 500 concerts and events a year across diverse range of musical genres including classi ...

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

City Recital Hall City Recital Hall in Sydney, Australia, is a purpose-built concert venue with the capacity for an audience of 1,238 people seated over three tiers of sloped seating. It is situated in the city centre in Angel Place, just off Martin Place. City ...

, Hamer Hall, Perth Concert Hall,

Shanghai Concert Hall Cadillac·Shanghai Concert Hall is located on the intersection of Yan'an Road and South Tibet Road of Huangpu District, Shanghai. It was founded in 1930 as Nanking Theatre. In 1949, its name was changed to Beijing Cinema. In 1959, it was renam ...

Shanghai Grand Theatre The Shanghai Grand Theater () is a complex located at the intersection of Central Boulevard and Huangpi Road South in the northern part of the People's Square in the Huangpu District of Shanghai. The building houses the Shanghai Opera House a ...

, Oriental Arts Centre,

Forbidden City Concert Hall Forbidden City Concert Hall (Chinese: 中山公园音乐堂; literally: "Zhongshan Park Music Hall") is a 1,419-seat multi-purpose venue in Beijing. The name of the venue came from the fact that it is located within the grounds of the Beijing Zho ...

Wuxi Grand Theatre Wuxi Grand Theatre is one of the key cultural projects in Wuxi, China.http://en.chinawuxi.gov.cn/web111/TravelinWuxi/Culture/WuxiGrandTheatre/902766.shtml Wuxi Grand Theater stands on the south bank of Taihu Lake and covers a total area of more th ...

, Wuhan QinTai Concert Hall. He has appeared as a soloist with orchestras such as the

Sydney Symphony Orchestra The Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is an Australian symphony orchestra that was initially formed in 1908. Since its opening in 1973, the Sydney Opera House has been its home concert hall. Simone Young is the orchestra's chief conductor and firs ...

West Australian Symphony Orchestra The West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO) is an Australian symphony orchestra based in Perth, Western Australia. Its principal concert venue is the Perth Concert Hall. WASO also gives concerts at the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre. , WA ...

, and

Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra The Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra (SPO; Chinese: 上海爱乐乐团; pinyin: Shànghǎi Àiyuè Yuètuán) is a professional symphony orchestra based in Shanghai, China. It is under the administration of the Shanghai Municipal Administration of C ...

. Yelian's first CD - Y2: Music for Cello & Piano, was released by Willowhayne Records (UK) and featured the works of

Svante Henryson Svante Henryson (born 22 October 1963 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a composer, cellist, bass guitarist and double bassist, active within jazz, classical music, and hard rock. Biography Childhood and studies Svante Henryson grew up in Umeå in northe ...

and

Nikolai Kapustin Nikolai Girshevich Kapustin (russian: link=no, Никола́й Ги́ршевич Капу́стин ; 22 November 19372 July 2020) was a Soviet composer and pianist of Russian-Jewish descent. He played with early Soviet jazz bands such as the ...

among other works. The release was praised by the composer Henryson, who has stated "Yelian He plays On A Day Like This and Black Run with all the passion, energy and technical mastery that I as a composer could wish for. It is a joy to hear his versions." Yelian regularly gives masterclasses in UK, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

Awards

Tait Memorial Trust The Tait Memorial Trust MTis a charitable foundation, first established in the United Kingdom, with the chief purpose of providing financial support to outstanding young performing artists from Australia and New Zealand who wish to pursue post-gr ...

Award (2007, 2009) * Australian Music Foundation Award (2009) *Tunnell Trust Award (2012) * Kirckman Concert Society Award (2013) * City Music Foundation Artist (2014) In 2011, Yelian was presented to HM Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

at a reception for outstanding

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

ns in the United Kingdom, and again in 2013 in a private performance for the Queen and her Commonwealth guests at

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

Personal life

Yelian's nickname is the “Kung Fu Cellist” and studies

Wing Chun Wing Chun (Chinese: 詠春 or 咏春, lit. "singing spring"), sometimes spelled Ving Tsun, is a concept-based fighting art, form of Nanquan (martial art), Southern Chinese kung fu and close-quarters system of self-defense. In Mandarin, it is ...

Kung Fu Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common ...

with his

Sifu Shifu () in Mandarin, or sifu in Cantonese, or sai hu in Hokkien, is a title for, and the role of, a skillful person or a master. The character 師/师 means "skilled person" or "teacher," while 傅 means "tutor" and 父 means "father." Though ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. He is a part of the Tse Qigong Centre under Grandmaster

Ip Chun Ip Chun (born Ip Hok-chun; 10 July 1924), also known as Yip Chun or Yip Jun, is a Chinese martial artist in the style of Wing Chun. He is the elder of two sons. Chun's father Ip Man was the Wing Chun teacher of Bruce Lee. Early life He was bo ...

's lineage (eldest son of the legendary

Ip Man Ip Man, also known as Yip Man, ( / 叶问; 1 October 1893 – 2 December 1972) was a Hong Kong-based Cantonese martial artist and a grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun when he was 20. He had several students who later became martial art ...

, most popularly known from '' Ip Man (film series)'' and teacher of

Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that ...

). Since 2019 Yelian started his own Wing Chun classes in Melbourne, where he resides.

References

Sources

Yelian He official website Hancock Artists official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:He, Yelian 1984 births Living people Australian classical cellists Chinese classical cellists University of Melbourne alumni Musicians from Melbourne Musicians from Shanghai Academics of the Royal Northern College of Music