Composer Zhou Long thrills with mix of styles

Award-winner from China says blending Eastern, Western concepts takes deep understanding

Members of Music From China: Chen Yihan (left), pipa performer, and Wang Guowei (right), erhu performer, play Taiping Drum for the audience on Dec 8 at Phillips Collection in Washington. Music From China was founded in 1984, with the goal of bringing the best of Chinese music to the states. Yuan Yuan / For China Daily

Renowned composer Zhou Long delivered ancient music from China for a Washington audience on Dec 8 at The Phillips Collection.

The Phillips Music's Leading International Composers series, in its eighth season, celebrated the music of Zhou, who combines the aesthetic concepts and musical elements of East and West, played by the ensemble Music From China.

Zhou won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for his fi rst opera and has been a two-time recipient of commissions from the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation. Last year, he was nominated for a Grammy Award.

Born in 1953 in Beijing, he began his studies at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing in 1977, and traveled to the US to continue his music studies in 1985. His work embraces elements of traditional Chinese music and American symphonic music.

When he first got to the states, he was involved with Chinese ensembles. As he encountered more American composers, Zhou started to invite them to write for Chinese ensembles.

"In my own compositions, I also use Western media but with Chinese traditional ideas and elements for the operas," he said.

Even when the operas are in English, he borrows musical elements from Peking Opera and other Chinese literary works.

To combine the cultures is not simply to mix or push them together, he said.

"You have to really understand both cultures, talk to both sides and then people will gradually accept you," Zhou said.Zhou pointed out that nowadays, even in China, original Chinese music is rearranged, popularized and commercialized. But he believes in the uniqueness of Chinese traditional instruments and ancient materials.

"I feel that's more original," he said. "I like pop culture, but for my own work, I tend to research deeply to the ancient culture and then use my musical language to compose."

Western audience members, besides a general interest in the melody of Chinese folk songs, also pay attention to the singing and playing techniques in Chinese songs, according to Zhou.

"I'm writing the Chinese stories using Western media," he said. "It's not a responsibility but my nature, because I grew up with the (Chinese) culture and would like to use the culture as a uniqueness."

He also encourages other composers and his students to use their own cultures to make their musical messages more original. If they study their own cultures, they'll benefit from it, he said.

Zhou also serves as the director of Music From China, a group founded in 1984 and made up of traditional Chinese instrumentalists. For three decades, the group has brought genuine traditional Chinese music to audiences in the New York area and beyond.

Music From China performers have carved a unique place in the music world by playing not only the traditional repertoire, but contemporary work using traditional Chinese instruments.

They played nine songs, including Meihua Sannong (the triplex tune Plum Blossom), one of the most favored qin (seven-stringed zither) compositions among both traditional qin artists; Chinese folk songs and some of Zhou's original works with instruments including the pipa (four-stringed Chinese lute), dizi (bamboo flute), erhu (two-stringed bowed instrument), zheng (21-or 25-stringed zither), xiao (vertical bamboo flute) and percussion. The event was held in partnership with the Chinese embassy's culture office.

"I'm very delighted to be here to enjoy the Chinese concert tonight," said Zhou Yong, the office's first secretary. "It's a special Chinese event held in a special place. We see those Chinese red lanterns together with the Western oil paintings - a good combination, just like Zhou Long's music."

"It exceeded my expectations," said Florence Fasanelli, a member of the Phillips Chamber Society who frequently attends the Phillips Music events. "I found the music exceedingly interesting. And the program was also well-designed with the variety of different kinds of pieces that were played."

Yuan Yuan in Washington contributed to this story.