WOMAD

Silk String Quartet

From China (Peoples Republic)

The Silk String Quartet profiles the very best in Chinese musical talent in the UK and Europe, comprising four established virtuosi with international reputations. All four players are classically trained in China and boast rich Chinese-Western musical educations and experience. In spring 2006, they decided to pool their talents together to pursuit creative projects. Silk Strings perform traditional music with their own interpretations, contemporary music and specially commissioned pieces as well as enjoy cross-cultural and creative music projects. Since its inception in 2006, the Quartet was one of only two UK groups chosen to showcase at the 2006 WOMEX World Music Expo in Sevilla, Spain. The Quartet's UK appearances include at such venues as Royal Opera House, The Royal Academy of Music, the National Early Music Centre in York, the Guildford International Music Festival, the Brighton Festival and the WOMAD Festival, which was broadcast by BBC Radio 3. In Europe, the Quartet toured Holland in June and performed in the Masala Festival in Hanover, Germany in July. Projects for 2007-8 include a tour with the Cellist Matthew Barley, a collaborative project with the Chamber Music Company, and an opera-circus spectacular, 'Monkey – Journey to The West' with Blur singer Damon Albarn to tour Europe. The Quartet's new CD is published in July 2007 under ARC label. The Quartet won PRS Foundation Awards - Performance groups 2007. For further information see www.ukchinesemusic.com. The MusiciansCheng Yu – pipa lute (founder of the Quartet, currently teaches pipa and guqin at SOAS, University of London, former soloist in the China Central Orchestra of Chinese Music, Beijing, and holds BMus., MMus. and PhD degrees); Qiu Zenghui – erhu fiddle (former lead musician in the National Beijing Opera Troupe and a graduate of the China National Beijing Opera School); Han Ying – yangqin dulcimer (former member of the prestigious Beijing Plucked Strings Ensemble with a BMus honours degree from the China Conservatory of Music, Beijing). Xiao Ran – guzheng (BMus. From the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing and now is based in UK) For more information, please email chengyu@ukchinesemusic.com, or phone us on + 44 (0) 20 7813 2732 (t.), +44 0788 089 6003 (m.), or visit www.ukchinesemusic.com/.