Xiaogang Ye

Xiaogang YE Born in Shanghai in 1955, Xiaogang Ye is regarded as one of China’s leading contemporary composers. From 1978 until 1983, he studied at Composition Department of the Central Conservatory of Music in China, and after graduation he was appointed Resident Composer and Lecturer at the Conservatory. From 1987, he studied at the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester in New York. His former teachers include Minxin Du, Samuel Adler, Joseph Schwantner, Louis Andriessen and Alexander Goehr. After he returned home from the U.S.A. in 1994, Xiaogang YE had been a professor in Composition Department of the Central Conservatory of Music, Doctoral Advisor, Deputy Dean of Composition Department, and Educational Inspector of the Conservatory. From 2009 to 2018, he worked as a vice president of the Central Conservatory of Music. Ye is entrusted with cultural tasks as a standing member of the 13th Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and he is presently vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, chairman of the China Musicians Association, vice chairman of the International Music Council, head of the ISCM Beijing Modern Music Festival Section, professor of composition at the Central Conservatory of Music, distinguished professor of the Xinghai Conservatory of Music, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, honorary professor of the Tschaikovsky Conservatory of Music in Ukraine, and an international honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Ye is the founder and artistic director of the Beijing Modern Music Festival, Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival, Tsingtao International Music Festival, Guangdong-Hongkong-Macau Dawan District Music Festival, and International Music Competition Harbin. Ye has been committed to promoting the development of China’s modern music and promoting the exchange of Chinese and foreign music culture. Ye has composed a large number of works in a variety of genres, including symphonic music, chamber music, dance drama, and opera, as well as film and TV music. His important works include Horizon, The Last Paradise, The Song of the Earth, Twilight of the Himalayas, Scent of Green Mango, Mount E’mei, Lamura Cuo, Songs from the Steppe (Symphony No.4), Lu Xun (Symphony No.5), The Heroes (Symphony No. 7), The Backyard of the Village, Cantonese Suite, Springs in the Forest, Nine Horses, Yangzhuoyong Cuo, The Macao Bride, Song of Farewell, etc. Ye is also a successful composer of film music. He has composed music for more than 30 important Chinese movies and TV series, and has won “The Best Score Award” five times for his efforts in this area. Although Ye does not consider film music central to his output, it has granted his work unprecedented exposure in China, leading to him being granted the honorary title of “Man of China” in 2005. Since 1995, his works have been published by Schott, a world famous music publishing company and agency. Ye’s music can be heard throughout the world in leading opera houses and symphony halls, international festivals, and on radio and television. Since 1987, Ye’s works have drawn attention both in East Asia and in the West, where they have been performed by major orchestras and ensembles including the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Nebraska Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Munchner Philharmoniker, Bamberger Symphoniker, Philhamoniker Hamburg, Orchestra Del Teatro Alla Scala, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Macau Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra (Taiwan), China Philharmonic Orchestra, China National Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Utopik, New European Ensemble, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the NZTrio. In August 2008, his piano concerto Starry Sky was premièred during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing by Lang Lang. Accompanied by dance and light shows, the live broadcast was watched by 3 billion people worldwide. Beginning in 2013, the “China Story” concert series featuring Ye’s music has been presented in venues all over the world, including in Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York, and in the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. Other concerts have been held in Saarbrücken, Münich, San Jose (Costa Rica), Kolkata, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Berlin, Moscow, Nates (France), Lima, and Dublin. Orchestras which have participated include the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, China National Symphony Orchestra, China NCPA Orchestra, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Russian National Orchestra, Ensemble Utopik, the National Symphony Orchestra of Peru, and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. This concert series has exposed Ye’s music to diverse international audiences. Ye has been the recipient of many prestigious honors including a 2012 Guggenheim Fellowship Award, a 2013 China Arts Award, and a Distinguished Alumni Citation from the Eastman School of Music in 2011. Recordings of Ye’s music can be found on several international labels, including EMI, WERGO, HUGO, GRAMOPHONE, CRC, POLOARTS, NAXOS, BIS, and DELOS, etc.