LIU FANG                                   (CANADA - CHINA)  1 musician www.philmultic.com New Album : Silk Sound (Le son de soie), Liu Fang, pipa, guzheng; Alla, oud; Availability : Open

Liu Fang has achieved an international reputation for her masterful and deeply spirited pipa playing. Born in 1974 in Kunming in the Chinese province of Yunnan Liu Fang began studying the pipa at the age of six and gave her first public performance as a pipa soloist when she was nine. In 1985, she played for Queen Elizabeth during Her Majesty's visit to China.

Honoured with several provincial and national prizes, Liu Fang graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where she also studied the guzheng, a Chinese zither. Since moving
to Canada in 1996, Liu Fang has built a remarkable artistic profile by captivating audiences and critics with the richness and grace of her playing as well as her wide ranging repertoire.

Liu Fang is most well known for her virtuosic and expressive interpretation of traditional pipa and guzheng music from the classical and traditional repertoire. Celebrated in the press as being "one of the greatest virtuoso", "the empress of pipa" (L'actualité, 2001), Fang is able to transmit in an erudite and significant way the beauty and the richness of this ancient music as well as the subtle sonorities of the instruments by the power and sensibility of her play.

"... Superb sensitivity and unrivaled dramaturgic feeling. ...
By observing (her playing), one sees the love that unites her with the music; one feels the unison which resounds within her being and the instrument, and above all, one shares her deep joy..." - MondoMix, FranCe

"... Masterful, graceful and riveting..."- BBC london, noveMBer 8, 2003.

Albums:

Silk Sound (Le son de soie),
Liu Fang, pipa, guzheng; Alla, oud;

Ballake Sissoko, kora;
Henri Tournier, bansuri (Accords Croisés, 2006)

Chinese Traditional Guzheng Music,
guzheng solo (Philmutic, 2005)

Mei Hua (Fleur de prunier) Lise Daoust,
flute; Liu Fang, guzheng and pipa
(ATMA 2004)

The Soul of Pipa, vol. 2 Chinese Classical
Pipa Music From The Ancient
To The Recent (Philmutic, 2003)

The Soul of Pipa, vol. 1, Chinese Pipa
Music From The Classical Tradition
(Philmutic, 2001)

Arabic and Chinese Music, A real cross
over of two cultures, Liu Fang, pipa
and zheng, Farhan Sabbagh, Al-ud and
percussion (Philmutic, 2000)