Ye Xiaogang ( zh, s=叶小纲, t=葉小綱, p=Yè Xiǎogāng; born September 23, 1955) is a Chinese composer of

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is Western art music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st-century classical music, 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 Modernism (music), post-tonal music after the death of ...

Biography

Ye was born in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

in 1955. He studied at the

Central Conservatory of Music The Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM; ) is the national music academy of China, located in Beijing. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education. The academy is part of Project 211 and the Double First-Class Construction. Overview Fo ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

from 1978 to 1983, under the composer Du Mingxin. He then studied at the

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. Established in 1921 by celebrated industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman, it was the ...

beginning in 1987."Ye, Xiaogang - Profile"
''Schott-Music.com''. His teachers include

Alexander Goehr Peter Alexander Goehr (; 10 August 1932 – 26 August 2024) was a German-born English composer of contemporary classical music and academic teacher. A long-time professor of music at the University of Cambridge, Goehr influenced many notable c ...

. He teaches at the Central Conservatory of Music, where he serves as Assistant President"CCOM Leadership"
''en.ccom.edu.cn'' entral Conservatory of Music and vice dean of the composition department. His ''Starry Sky'' was premiered at the opening ceremony of the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

in Beijing. In the summer of 2006, Ye took part in the inaugural "Composer Alive!" transpacific correspondence project with Accessible Contemporary Music in Chicago, Illinois. This project consisted of Ye composing a piece, ''Datura'', and sending its fragments as they were completed to Chicago, electronically. They were subsequently read by ACM's performance ensemble and posted to the Internet for Ye's approval. The project culminated with Ye traveling to the United States for the completed work's premiere performance.

Selected compositions

The ''Great Wall Symphony'' (2002) consists of nine

movements Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger c ...

, with vocal parts and traditional

Chinese musical instruments Chinese musical instruments are traditionally grouped into eight categories (classified by the material from which the instruments were made) known as (). The eight categories are silk, bamboo, wood, Rock (geology), stone, metal, clay, gourd and s ...

and folk tunes are used in it. Ye composed the soundtrack to the documentary '' Rise of the Great Powers''.

Vocal

*''Twilight in Tibet'' for tenor, horn and orchestra, op. 41 (2002) *''The Song of the Earth'' for soprano, baritone and orchestra, op. 47 *''Poems of Lingnan'' for tenor, op. 62 (2011) *''Seven Episodes for Lin'an'' for soprano, tenor, bariton and orchestra, op. 63 (2011) *''The Road to the Republic'' (Cantate) (2011) *''The song of sorrow and gratification'' for Bassbariton and orchestra, op. 67 (2012)

Orchestral

*''Winter'' for orchestra, op. 28 (1988) *''Cantonese Suite'' for orchestra, op. 51 (2005) *''Sichuan Image'' op. 70 *''Tinjin Suite'' for orchestra, op. 75 (2015–2016)

Symphonies

*''Symphony No.2'' "Horizon" for soprano, baritone and orchestra, op. 20 (1984/85) *''Great Wall Symphony'' (2002) *''Symphony No.3'' "Chu" op. 46 (2004/207) *''Symphony No.4'' "Songs from the Steppe" *''Symphony No.5'' "Lu Xun" *''Symphony No.7'' "The Heroes"

Concerto's

*''The brilliance of Western Liang'' for violin and orchestra, op. 16 (1983) *''The Last Paradise'' for violin and orchestra, op. 24 (1993) *''Concerto of Life'' for piano and orchestra, op. 23c (2000) *''Pipa Concerto'' op. 31 (2001) *''Scent of Green Mango'' for piano and orchestra, op.42 (1998–2014) *''December chrysanthemum'' for flute and orchestra, op. 52b *''Starry sky'' for piano and orchestra, op. 56 (2008) *''Lamura Cuo'' for violin and orchestra, op.69b (2014) *''Mount E'mei'' for violin and orchestra, op.64 (2015–2016)

Chamber music

*''Springs in the Forest'' for zheng, op. 6 *''Poem of China'' for cello and piano, op. 15 (1981) *''San Die'' for zheng and flute op. 7a (1986) *''Enchanted Bamboo'' for piano, violin (2), viola and cello, op. 18 *''Hibiscus'' for 6 players op. 48 *''December Chrysanthemum'' for flute and piano, op. 52 *''Namucuo'' for piano, op. 53 *''Datura'' for flute, violin, cello and piano, op. 57 *''Colorful Sutra Banner'' trio for piano, violin and cello, op. 58 *Piano Trio op. 59 *''Basong Cuo'' op. 65 for zheng and 5 players, op.65 (2012) *''Gardenia'' for pipa and string quartet, op. 78 (2017)

Other

*''Therenody'' *''Tripdus'' *''Ballade'' op. 25 *''Shenzhen Story'' *''Macau Bride'' (Ballet-Suite) op. 34 (2001) *''Dalai VI'' *''Nine Horses'' *'' Rise of the Great Powers'' (2006) *''The Silence of Mount Minshan'' for strings, op. 73 (2015)

Recordings

* ''Symphony Nr.2'' "Horizon"— Wergo WER6646-2 (2004) * ''The Macau Bride'' op.34 (Ballett-Suite) — Naxos 8.573131 (2014) * ''Symphony Nr.3'' "Chu"— BIS records BIS-2083 (2016) * ''December Chrysanthemum'' (Chamber Music) — Delos DE3559 (2020) * ''Winter''— BIS records BIS-2113 (2021) * ''Violin Concerto'' op.64 "Mount E'mei" — Naxos 8.579087 (2021) * Mahler & Ye: ''The Song Of The Earth'' — Deutsche Grammophon (2021) * ''The Road to the Republic'' (Cantate) — Naxos 8.579089 (2021) * ''7 Episodes for Lin'an'' op.63 — Naxos 8.579088 (2022) * ''Sichuan Image'' op.70— BIS records BIS-2303 (2022)

Sources

External links

"Ye Xiaogang: Contemporary Composer"
''CCTV.com''. Interview, 2004.

''CRIEnglish.com''. Article, 2005-11-22 16:37:19. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ye, Xiaogang 1955 births Living people 20th-century Chinese classical composers 21st-century Chinese classical composers Musicians from Shanghai Pupils of Alexander Goehr Pupils of Louis Andriessen Pupils of Samuel Adler (composer) Pupils of Joseph Schwantner Central Conservatory of Music alumni Academic staff of the Central Conservatory of Music Eastman School of Music alumni Chinese male classical composers 20th-century Chinese male musicians 21st-century Chinese male musicians