{"id":387714,"date":"2025-06-12T08:00:58","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T14:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/?p=387714"},"modified":"2025-06-12T12:14:18","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T18:14:18","slug":"around-the-world-on-guitar-chinese-born-xuefei-yang-takes-on-famed-spanish-concerto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/around-the-world-on-guitar-chinese-born-xuefei-yang-takes-on-famed-spanish-concerto\/","title":{"rendered":"Around the World on Guitar: Chinese-born Xuefei Yang Takes on Famed Spanish Concerto"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interview by Kyle Macmillan <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The guitar is one of the newest Western instruments to arrive in China. Xuefei Yang<\/a> believes it entered the country only about 100 years ago, and it took decades more for it to gain a foothold among audiences and players.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut just as everywhere else in the world,\u201d she said, \u201cthe guitar is such a charming instrument, so a lot of people like the guitar.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Xuefei Yang: A Groundbreaking Classical Guitarist Making Colorado Music Festival Debut<\/h3>\n

She should know. Yang is the first classical guitarist to earn a bachelor\u2019s degree from China\u2019s Central Conservatory of Music and first Chinese-born soloist on the instrument to build an international reputation.<\/p>\n

The 48-year-old British resident will make her Colorado Music Festival debut July 27<\/a>, joining Music Director Peter Oundjian<\/a> and the festival orchestra in a performance of the most famous concerto for the guitar: Joaquin Rodrigo\u2019s Concierto de Aranjuez<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Rodrigo\u2019s Concierto de Aranjuez<\/em>: A Beloved Masterpiece<\/h3>\n

She should know. Yang is the first classical guitarist to earn a bachelor\u2019s degree from China\u2019s Central Conservatory of Music and the first Chinese-born soloist on the instrument to build an international reputation.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 48-year-old British resident will make her Colorado Music Festival debut July 27, joining Music Director Peter Oundjian and the Festival orchestra in a performance of the most famous concerto for the guitar: Joaquin Rodrigo\u2019s <\/span>Concierto de Aranjuez<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The 1939 piece is inspired by the lavish gardens at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez in Madrid, one of the official residences of the Spanish royal family that was built by King Philip II in the last half of the 16th century.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yang, who recorded the concerto in 2010 with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and plays it regularly, never tires of the piece. \u201cFor me, that is the test of whether a work is great or not,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause I find if I play a great piece of music, like [J.S.] Bach\u2019s Chaconne, you never get bored of it. A great piece of art\u2014you just dig in more. Every time I play it, I feel differently.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The guitar does not have the same aural heft as the piano or even the violin. So, as Yang and most of her fellow guitarists regularly do, she will subtly amplify her performance in Boulder to make sure the instrument can be heard properly not just by the audience but also the other musicians onstage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yang\u2019s Discovering the Guitar by Chance<\/h3>\n

The Beijing native didn\u2019t choose to take guitar lessons as a child. She didn\u2019t even know what a guitar was. Her parents wanted her to learn an instrument, and her music teacher in elementary school liked the instrument and organized a children\u2019s guitar group.<\/span><\/p>\n

She remembers when her father brought home a guitar from a local music store for her to play. \u201cI was so curious,\u201d she said. \u201cI opened the box and it was the first time I saw a guitar. I plucked the strings, and I thought, \u2018Oh, it sounds so nice.\u2019 So, I liked it from the beginning.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yang joined the group when she was 7 and, two years later, she took part in a masterclass with an American guitarist who told her she showed promise. Another year later, she was the only child to attend and perform at the first international guitar festival in China, and she received abundant praise. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of the first time I had this idea of being a concert guitarist,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From Beijing to London: A Rising Star\u2019s Path<\/h3>\n

After earning her bachelor\u2019s degree at the Central Conservatory, she chose not to follow the urging of her parents to go to the United States. Instead, she admired Europe with its long history of art and classical music and wanted to continue her studies there.<\/span><\/p>\n

But rather than Spain, a country famously important to the development of classical guitar, especially in the 20<\/span>th<\/span> century with such masters as Andres Segovia, she wanted to go an English-speaking country, settling on Great Britain, because of its rich classical-music history It helped that she received an international scholarship to attend the Royal Academy of Music in London \u2013 the first guitarist to do so.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Yang\u2019s graduate studies were winding down, the then-25-year-old had no idea how to launch a professional career. Following the lead of her pianist roommate, she decided to send some letters to prospective artist managements in London. Before she could get around to it, the head of Askonas Holt, one of the largest such firms, attended one of her performances. \u201cAfter the concert, I got signed, so I was very lucky,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

International Tours and a Deep Connection to China<\/h3>\n

The guitarist has gone on to perform in some of the most prestigious concert venues in the world. Though she has continued to reside in the West, she makes frequent trips to China and has served as artistic director of the Changsha International Guitar Festival since 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yang has released 20 recordings, many of them on major labels such as EMI Classics and Decca. Coming out June 25 is <\/span>Chapeau Satie<\/span><\/i>, an album marking the 100<\/span>th<\/span> anniversary of the death of Erik Satie.<\/span><\/p>\n

The individualist French composer is best known for miniature solo works for the piano with quirky names like <\/span>Gymnop\u00e9dies<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Gnossiennes<\/span><\/i>. \u201cI always loved his music,\u201d said Yang, who saw the centenary as an ideal opportunity to present \u201creimagined interpretations\u201d of some of these works on guitar. \u201cBecause his music is very simple and meditative \u2013 not many notes \u2013 his works are very well suited to be played on the guitar,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Also included will be three of his M\u00e9lodies, songs written for caf\u00e9-concerts, with soprano H\u00e9loise Warner as the vocal soloist. Yang also commissioned Warner to compose a new song for the album using the poetry of C\u00e9cile Sauvage, a contemporary of Satie.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A New Voice for Classical Guitar<\/h3>\n

Yang is a big advocate of new music, frequently premiering works for the guitar, like <\/span>Dreaming of My Hometown<\/span><\/i> by famed Chinese-American composer Chen Yi. Yang premiered the concerto with the University of Nottingham Philharmonia in February 2024 and hopes to perform it more.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you play a Beethoven piece, that\u2019s Beethoven\u2019s voice about his time,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, we need composers to write music that represents our voice and our lives.\u201d That\u2019s especially true for the classical guitar, which doesn\u2019t have a large body of concerto repertoire like the piano or cello.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The creation of the <\/span>Concierto<\/span><\/i> de Aranjuez<\/span><\/i> was sparked during a dinner in Santander, Spain, in September 1938 that included Rodrigo, guitarist Regino Sa\u00ednz de la Maza and the Marqu\u00e9s de Bolarqu\u00e9. During the evening, his companions urged the composer to write a guitar concerto and he agreed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cImagine if that didn\u2019t happen,\u201d Yang said. \u201cI would not have the chance to play this fantastic piece in many concerts with different orchestras. So, I think we need to continue working on new repertoire.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A Concerto That Reflects Our Time<\/h3>\n

This concerto, which marries elements of flamenco with the classical-music tradition, seems especially relevant now, when the Colorado Music Festival and other presenters are putting a greater emphasis than ever on inclusivity and multiculturalism.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Colorado Music Festival hosts Xuefei Yang on Sunday, July 27.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For Festival details & tickets >\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interview by Kyle Macmillan The guitar is one of the newest Western instruments to arrive in China. Xuefei Yang believes it entered the country only about 100 years ago, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":387715,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[382],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-387714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}