Asia Society welcomes world-renowned traditional Chinese instrumentalists from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music: zheng virtuoso QI Yao and sheng player HUA Yifei. They will perform traditional Chinese works as well as newly composed pieces by XU Shuya, ZHOU Xianglin, JI Dongyong and DAI Weiyi.

Asia Society is proud to present, for the third year, cross-cultural Asian music in collaboration with the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. Additional programs focusing on the music of China will take place at Rice University on October 21. These include workshops, lectures, and concerts with invited international and local musicians and scholars. Please visit the Shepherd School of Music's website for more information.

About the Artists

QI Yao, renowned Chinese zheng player and composer, has won several major awards in China. A prolific and highly demanded performer, she has made many appearances in North and South America, Asia, and Europe. QI Yao is equally versatile in classical and contemporary repertoire and has premiered many newly composed works including pieces by Tan Dun and Zhou Xianglin.

A rising star in China, HUA Yifei has won many prestigious awards including silver prize in the 9th “Golden Bell Prize Of Chinese Music” and two golden prizes in ”The First Chinese Sheng Art Festival Competition.” HUA Yifei was invited by Atlas Ensemble to participate in the highly regarded Atlas Lab.

About the Shanghai Conservatory

Founded in 1927, Shanghai Conservatory of Music was the first music institution of higher education in China. The conservatory has established a solid foundation on different subjects such as composition, performing arts, research, and technology of music. The conservatory consists of 15 departments and 22 undergraduate majors and offers 28 graduate programs and 21 doctoral programs including the departments of Composition, Conducting, Musicology, Voice and Opera, Piano, Orchestral Instruments, Chinese Traditional Instruments, Music Education, Music Engineering, Arts Administration, Modern Instruments & Percussion, Music Theatre, the Institute of Digital Media Art, Academic Studies and Postgraduate Office, etc. The conservatory has the authority of Bachelor, Master and Doctoral Degree granting and two post-doctoral station of Arts, with a secondary school and an elementary section, thus forming a self-contained system with a complete curriculum of music and academic education. By June 2015, the number of students of the Conservatory reached nearly 2200. Among them, about 98 foreign students from 22 countries study at Shanghai Conservatory of Music, 53 of them enrolled in degree programs.

The China Series at Asia Society Texas Centeris presented by East West Bank. Major support for Performing Arts programs comes from Nancy C. Allen, Ellen Gritz and Milton Rosenau, the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance, and the Anchorage Foundation. Generous funding also provided by AARP, The Clayton Fund, Miller Outdoor Theatre, New England Foundation for the Arts, and through contributions from the Friends of Asia Society, a premier group of individuals and organizations committed to bringing exceptional programming and exhibitions to Asia Society Texas Center. This program is presented in collaboration with the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.