Xiang Gao
Founding Artisitc Director of Masters Players Concert Series
Newark, DE 19716
Biography
Recognized as one of the world’s most successful performing artists of his generation from the People’s Republic of China, Xiang Gaos musical integrity and virtuoso technique have gained accolades from audiences and reviewers around the world. He has performed for many world leaders and most recently was a featured soloist performing for the former Chinese President Hu JinTao and the visiting King Carlos I of Spain. Highlights of the recent season’s engagements include the North American premiere of Eduard Tubin’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Detroit Symphony; the 2011 world premiere of Kristin Kusters Two Jades for solo violin and symphony band in Disney Hall, Los Angeles, and the National Center for Performing Arts, Beijing, China; solo performances with more than 100 orchestras worldwide including the Czech Philharmonic, the Gothenburg Symphony-National Orchestra of Sweden, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic of Russia, the Estonia National Symphony, the Mexico State Symphony, the Kansas City Symphony, the Memphis Symphony, the Aspen Music Festival orchestras and the Knoxville Symphony. As a multifaceted musician and singer songwriter, Mr. Gao composes, arranges and performs in the styles of jazz, funk, bluegrass, Asian folk, pop and Latin American music. As a member of the China Magpie ensemble established by Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project, and the 6ixwire Project, a crossover duet he and erhu soloist Cathy Yang formed in 2009, Mr. Gao is frequently featured on CCTV, China’s leading TV station, performing live concerts broadcast to more than one billion TV viewers worldwide. Both crossover ensembles combine multiple styles, from Chinese folk to Western classical and rock music. With his strong interest in theatre and Asian traditional music, Mr. Gao has performed in the Nederlander Theatre on Broadway. He created the acclaimed Butterfly Lovers Multimedia Violin Concerto, which recreates a popular ancient Chinese fairytale that is similar to Western literatures Romeo and Juliet. The productions North American orchestral debut took place on February 17, 2007, with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Gao is also the creator and producer of the creative and engaging iMusic productions. The iMusic series successfully humanizes classical music in multimedia violin concerts that combine artistic elements with special effects to entrance audiences of all ages.Mr. Gao lives in Newark, Delaware, where he is the Trustees Distinguished Professor of Music and the founding artistic director of the Master Players Concert Series at the University of Delaware. He is also the ZiJiang Professor of Music at the East China Normal University in Shanghai, China. He performs on a violin made by master maker G.B. Ceruti of Cremona, Italy, in 1794. The University of Delaware purchased this rare instrument to support Mr. Gao’s international performing career. In 2007, the Stradivari Society in Chicago selected Mr. Gao to be a recipient of a world famous Stradivarius violin for his international solo concerts.www.Youtube.com/user/xianggaomusic