Xu Yi (; born 1963) is a Chinese-born French

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and music educator in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Early life

In 1963, Xu Yi was born in

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

, China. Xu Yi began playing the Chinese violin,

erhu The (; ) is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, that is sometimes known in the Western world as the ''Chinese violin'' or a ''Chinese two-stringed fiddle''. It is used as a solo instrument as ...

, at a very young age.

Education

Xu Yi was a student at the

Shanghai Conservatory of Music The Shanghai Conservatory of Music (SHCMusic) is a municipal public college in Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the City of Shanghai and is part of the Double First-Class Construction. The college was founded on November 27, 1927. The Sh ...

, where she continued the violin, and later joined the class of composition. After her arrival in France in 1988, she studied the Cursus of Composition and Computer Music of the

IRCAM IRCAM (French: ''Ircam, '', English: Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music) is a French institute dedicated to the research of music and sound, especially in the fields of Avant-garde music, avant garde and Electroacoustic ...

(1990/1991). She entered the Conservatory of Music of Paris, where she studied with

Gérard Grisey Gérard Henri Grisey (; ; 17 June 1946 – 11 November 1998) was a twentieth-century French composer of contemporary classical music. His work is often associated with the Spectralist Movement in music, of which he was a major pioneer. Biograp ...

and Ivo Malec.

Career

At the age of 22, Xu became a teacher at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Xu Yi won First Prize in composition in

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

in 1994. She was the winner of the Prix de Rome, winning the honor of living in the

Villa Medici The Villa Medici () is a sixteenth-century Italian Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with 7-hectare Italian garden, contiguous with the more extensive Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in the historic ...

in Rome from 1996 to 1998 (she was the first composer of Chinese origin to win this prize). Xu was professor of composition at the Cergy-Pontoise National Conservatory of Music (2001–2003). She is a distinguished Professor at the

. Currently, Xu lives in France and is a distinguished Professor at the

Wuhan Conservatory of Music The Wuhan Conservatory of Music () is a provincial public college in Wuhan, Hubei, China. It is affiliated with the Province of Hubei and sponsored by the Hubei Provincial People's Government. In 1958, the school's predecessor, Hubei Arts College ...

. Xu Yi has received commissions from the French government,

Radio France Radio France () is the French national public radio broadcaster. Stations Radio France offers seven national networks: *France Inter — Radio France's "generalist media, generalist" station, featuring entertaining and informative talk mixed wi ...

, and many festivals and ensembles. She has composed some 60 works, which have been performed at numerous festivals and broadcast in Europe, China, Japan, the US, Brazil and Canada. Several

monographic A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

concerts of Xu's music have been organized in France and in Italy. One monographic disc of her works (MFA-Radio France 1999) was distributed by

Harmonia Mundi Harmonia Mundi is a record label that specializes in classical music, jazz, and world music (on the World Village label). It was founded in France in 1958 and is now a subsidiary of PIAS Entertainment Group, which is itself owned by Universal M ...

. Her work "Le Plein du Vide" was selected by the

French Ministry of Education The Ministry of National Education and Youth, or simply Ministry of National Education, as the title has changed several times in the course of the Fifth Republic, is the cabinet member in the Government of France who oversees the country's pu ...

for the final high school music exam in 2006 and 2007. Many of her works are published by the music publishing House Henry Lemoine, in Paris.

Works

* 2024-25 "Cinq transformations", for string quartet N.3 (ProQuartet, Centre Présence Compositrices, Quatuor Akilone commission) * 2024 "Vers le vide parfait", for string quartet N.2 (French State commission) * 2023 "Trois poèmes anciens", for mezzo-soprano, qin and percussions, poems de Xu Mu, Xue Tao, Xu Can * 2023 "Ô silence", for soprano, bass clarinet, viola and piano, Poem of Marie Closset * 2022 "Cha ji / Wabi-sabi", for flute, clarinet, 2 percussions, violin and zheng (TimeArt studio commission) * 2022 "Entre eux, entente à demi-mot", for mezzo-soprano, flute, percussion, violin and cello, poem of François Cheng * 2021 "Dry in a storm", for mezzo-sprano (with percussions), Poems by Joyce Shintanin and by Emily Dickinson * 2021 "Echo nocturne", for birbyne solo * 2020 "To wait an hour-si long", for soprano, violon ans cello, 5 Poems (Quatrains) by Emily Dickinson (Radio France commission) * 2020 "The Dust of time", for percussion * 2020 "Self/nonself", for yunluo (with one big cymbal) * 2019 "Métamorphoses du serpent blanc", chamber opera (French State commissions), Laure Gauthier : Text and poem in French; Xu Yi : poems in chinese, for soprano, mezzo-soprano, maîtrise, little children's choir, 6 instruments and electronic device spatialized in multitrack * 2019 "Qing yao", for Zheng solo (with qing) * 2018 "Two rotations" for

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: '' altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In four-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in ch ...

and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

* 2018 "Ode aux nymphéas" miniature for

string quartet The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two Violin, violini ...

(ProQuartet commission) * 2018 "Saveur" for percussion and danse * 2017 "Aquilone lontano" for string quartet N.1 (ProQuartet and Philharmonie de Paris commissions) * 2017 " Résonance végétale" for cucurbit orchestra, video and electronics spatialised (ENS commission) * 2016 "Chu Feng" - Shangpian for xiao / xun,

guqin The ''guqin'' (; ) is a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument. It has been played since ancient times, and has traditionally been favoured by scholars and literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinement, as highlighted b ...

, percussion,

bianqing The ''bianqing'' (IPA: iːɛnʧɪŋ zh, s=编磬, p=biānqìng i̯ɛn˥ t͡ɕʰiŋ˥˩ is a traditional List of traditional Chinese musical instruments, Chinese percussion instrument consisting of a set of L-shaped flat stone chimes kno ...

and

bianzhong ''Bianzhong'' () () is an ancient China, ancient Chinese List of traditional Chinese musical instruments, musical instrument consisting of a set of bronze bells, played melodically. China is the earliest country to manufacture and use musical chi ...

(2500 years old bronze chime) * 2016 "Chu Feng" - Xiapian for di / xiao, shang bass, guzheng,

pipa The pipa, pípá, or p'i-p'a () is a traditional Chinese musical instrument belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets rangi ...

, 2 percussion, bianqing and bianzhong (2500 years old bronze chime) (Music collaborative Innovation Center of Hubei / Conservatory of Wuhan commission) * 2015 "Chant des muses" for

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

, 3 ténors, choir and 13 instruments (COSU commission) * 2015 "Bœuf" for percussion solo * 2014 "Empress Wu Zetian" Lyrical drama in 3 actes (French State commission), livret : Agnès Marietta, for 3 singers, 1 actress-singer, young girls choir, 7 musicians and electronic device spatialized in multitrack * 2014 "Ombres" for violon solo * 2013 "La passion selon Médée" for 1 dancer, 1

flutist The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

, 1 percussionist and one ensemble of 11 musicians * 2012 "La joie du ciel" for 5 female voice

a capella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

(De Caelis ensemble commission) * 2011 "Si He" for Qin, flute, cello and percussion (Shanghai Conservatory and the Shanghai Cultural Foundation commission) * 2010 "Zhiyin" for

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

solo * 2010 "Liao" for percussion solo * 2010 "Le Ciel brûle" for

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...

and percussion * 2009 "Qing" for alto solo (Pro Helvetia Switzerland commission) * 2008 "Dan" for 6 instruments * 2007 "Guo feng" for violin, cello, qin and electronics spatialised (French State commission) * 2006 "Cohésion" for

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

, 4

saxophones The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

, 6 brass and 7 groups of specialized children with the percussions * 2005 "Tai" for Zheng and orchestra (Shanghai Conservatory commission) * 2004 "Pipa yin" for 6 instruments * 2004 "1+1=3" for 11 percussions (French State commission) * 2004 "Da Xu" for 6 instruments (

commission) * 2003 "La divine" silent movie in concert, for silent film of

Wu Yonggang Wu Yonggang (November 1, 1907 – December 18, 1982) was a prominent Chinese film director during the 1930s. Today Wu is best known for his directorial debut, '' The Goddess''. Wu had a long career with the Lianhua Film Company in the 1930s, in ...

, 10 instruments and electronics spatialised (ARTE commission) * 2002 "Voyage intérieur" for 6 instruments and electronics spatialised (French State commission) * 2002 "Variations sur le thème de Y.G.S.D" for pipa and 8 instruments * 2001 "Dialogue d’amour" for soprano, choir of children and 13 instruments (Radio France commission) * 2001 "Tempête sur l’Asie" silent movie in concert, for silent film of Poudovkine, 7 musicians and electronics spatialised (

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

commission) * 2000 "Da gui" in memory of Gérard Grisey, for flute, clarinete, percussion, violon et cello (French State commission) * 1999 "Crue d’automne" scenic poem, for 1 reciter, video, 6 musicians and electronics spatialised(French State commission) * 1997 "Le Plein du Vide" for 14 instruments and electronics spatialised (French State commission) * 1997 "Écho de la terre profonde" for 5 percussions * 1997 "Tian yun" Melodrama, for 1 reciter and 8 instruments * 1996 "Wou Wei" for bass flute and trumpet * 1996 "Solo" for flûte solo * 1996 "Xiao-yao-you" for 12 instruments and electronics spatialised * 1995 "Gu yin" for flute and percussion (Radio France commission) * 1994 "Huntun" for 5 instrumental groups spatialised * 1993 "Wang" for flute solo, string trio and percussion * 1993 "Le Roi des arbres" spoken

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

in 1 acte (3 tables), for a conductor, 3 comédians and 8 musiciens * 1993 "Yi" for string trio * 1992 "Miroir / poussière" for alto and 9 instruments * 1991 "Tui" for bass and electronics * 1991 "Tao1" for 6 instruments * 1988 "Esprit poétique" for

Erhu The (; ) is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, that is sometimes known in the Western world as the ''Chinese violin'' or a ''Chinese two-stringed fiddle''. It is used as a solo instrument as ...

(violon chinois) and Chinese orchestra * 1987 "Internal moving" for soprano, clarinete, alto and piano * 1986 "Symphonietta" for

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

* 1985 "Temple Hanshan" for soprano and 3 Chinese instruments * 1984 "Vallée vide" for Chinese flute, zheng and sets-gong * 1983 "Pine wave" for piano solo * 1982 "Small frogs" for ensemble of erhu (Chinese violin)

Discographie

* 2017 "Zhiyin"

solo, (7') CD of the"Collection of Excellent Works by Alumni from SHCM" pour "The 90th Anniversary of Shanghai Conservatory of Music" 2017 * 2013 "Si He", "Si He" for Qin, flute, cello and percussion (9') China Record Co. Shanghai * 2005 "Tai", for Zheng and orchestra, (11') CD Shanghai Conservatory of Music 2005 * 1999 "Le Plein du Vide", "Wang", "Yi", "Echo de la terre profonde", "Gu Yin", "Xiao-Yao-You"(70') Radio France / MFA / Villa Médicis 1999, MFA 216032 HMCD 73. * 1994 "Huntun" (13') for 5 instrumental groups spatialised CD Journées de la composition, CNSMP 1994. * 1988 "Esprit poétique"1983-1988 (26'), for Erhu (violon chinois) and chinese orchestra, Fu Mao Record Co. Taiwan, 1988, Fu jian Record Co. XCD-93014 / 1993, 1994. * 1986 "Vallée vide" 1984 (7'), for Chinese flute, zheng and sets-gong China Record Co. Shanghai, 1986. * 1982 "Small frogs" for ensemble of erhu (Chinese violin)1982 (6'), China Record Co. Shanghai, 1982.

References

External links

Official site

''Le Plein du vide'' de Xu Yi
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Xu, Yi 1963 births Living people Chinese emigrants to France 20th-century Chinese composers Chinese women classical composers French women classical composers Chinese music educators French music educators French women music educators Conservatoire de Paris alumni Shanghai Conservatory of Music alumni Academic staff of Shanghai Conservatory of Music Musicians from Nanjing Educators from Nanjing Chinese classical composers Chinese women music educators 21st-century Chinese women educators 21st-century Chinese educators 20th-century women composers 20th-century classical composers