Friday, March 26th, 2021
Recorded live on March 16, 2021.
Internationally acclaimed musician Gao Hong to presented Creating Music for Chinese Instruments webinar on March 16, 2021. This conversation is about creating music for the pipa, erhu, guzheng, dizi, percussion and other Chinese traditional instruments. Gao Hong discussed the ranges and techniques for each of these instruments and provide insights on what to consider when creating music for beginning performers.
Gao Hong is a fiscal year 2021 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
The link below will take you to Gao Hong’s YouTube page.
Gao Hong graduated from Beijing’s elite Central Conservatory of Music. Since coming to the United States, she has performed at the Lincoln Center Festival, Carnegie Hall, the San Francisco Jazz Festival, Smithsonian, and at festivals in Paris, Caen, Milan, and Perth. She has presented concertos for the pipa with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Heidelberg Philharmonic, the Buenos Aires Philharmonic, the China National Traditional Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, Hawaii Symphony, and the Women’s Philharmonic (San Francisco), among others. In 2017 she became the first Chinese musician to play the National Anthem at an NBA basketball game when she did so on pipa for the Minnesota Timberwolves in Minneapolis.
Gao has received numerous top awards and honors in China and the U.S. In 2005 Gao Hong became the first traditional musician to be awarded the prestigious Bush Artist Fellowship, and in 2019 she became the only musician in any genre to win five McKnight Artist Fellowships for Performing Musicians. As a 2018 Sally Award winner, Gao Hong was honored at the Ordway Center for her commitment to the arts.
As a composer, she has received commissions from the American Composers Forum, Walker Art Center, Jerome Foundation, Zeitgeist, Ragamala Music and Dance Theater, Theater Mu, IFTPA, Minneapolis Guitar Quartet, The Cedar, SEMAC, and TPT-PBS.
Gao teaches at Carleton College in Minnesota. She is also Guest Professor at the Central Conservatory of Music, China Conservatory of Music, and Tianjin Conservatory of Music. She is a member of the Board of Directors at the American Composers Forum and Minnesota Citizens for the Arts.