Wei Zhongle brings Chinese music to global stage
Dec 30, 2024Wei Zhongle (1909-98), a Chinese musical instrumentalist from Wuxi, Jiangsu province, is known as the "king of pipa (a four-stringed Chinese lute)." Beyond his mastery of the pipa, Wei was also proficient in many other folk instruments, including the guqin (a seven-stringed Chinese zither), erhu (a two-stringed Chinese fiddle), and dongxiao (bamboo flute).
Tianyun Society preserves legacy of Kunqu Opera
Dec 30, 2024In Wuxi, there is a Kunqu Opera singing organization known as the Tianyun Society. This society has a rich history, originally founded in the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) as the "Wuxi Kunqu Club". Later, in 1920, the organization changed its name to "Tianyun Society".
Liu Tianhua integrates Western composition techniques into Chinese folk music
Dec 30, 2024Liu Tianhua (1895-1932), born in Jiangyin, a county level city of Wuxi, Jiangsu province, was a distinguished Chinese composer, performer, and music educator. As a pioneer of modern Chinese folk music and a master of the erhu, Liu was the first to introduce erhu music into higher education and integrated Western composition techniques with traditional Chinese folk melodies in his erhu compositions.
