11:18 a.m., Jan. 24, 2011----The University of Delaware's Xiang Gao, professor of music and internationally acclaimed violinist, has announced that the two-year-old 6ixwire Project, a crossover duet with erhu virtuoso Cathy Yang of Beijing, is finding success and gaining audiences around the world.

THIS STORY

E-mail

Print

Twitter

Gao, who performed solo on Jan. 20 for Delaware Gov. Jack Markell and members of a Chinese business investment delegation, said the 6ixwire Project duet bridges East and West and performs in styles including classical, jazz, pop and rock.

Its creative concert productions are designed for today's international audience, he said.

Click here for a YouTube clip of the 6ixwire Project.

6ixwire Project

Gao said the 6ixwire Project brings together two of the essential musical instruments from East and West, the erhu, a two-stringed Chinese violin, and the Western violin.

Thousands of years ago, most bowed string instruments originated in Persia, he said, and it is believed that during the Silk Road period one traveled to Europe and became the four stringed violin while the other went to China and became the most popular solo instrument in Asia, the two stringed erhu.

The instruments were reunited with the formation of the 6ixwire Project in 2009.

As established performing artists, Gao and Yang are frequently featured on live concerts on China's CCTV for television audiences number more than one billion viewers worldwide.

Most recently, 6ixwire Project successfully performed in Chengdu, China, during the South West University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE) New Year's concert, which resulted in many major engagements.

In 2011, 6ixwire Project will perform in multiple cities in China, including such prestigious concert venues as the National Performing Art Center in Beijing and the Shanghai Grand Theatre.

A six-city U.S. concert tour is planned for April, 2012.

Cathy Yang

Yang was featured in Gao's composition Sleep Now O Earth that was performed in April 2010 at UD as part of the iMusic IV -- Ode to Earth concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.

In addition to being an erhu virtuoso, she is also a guzheng (Chinese zither) soloist and a professor of music at the China Contemporary Cultural Academy.

Yang has performed as a soloist at Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center, among other major concert halls in the U.S.

Besides her frequent concert appearances in China, in 2005 she appeared as an erhu and guzheng soloist in Nike Morris's Wheel of Life in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the West End's Peacock Theater in London.

The Chinese government has chosen Yang many times as a cultural ambassador to perform in Vienna, Frankfurt, Munich, Los Angeles and other cities.

In May 2008, while visiting the U.S., she performed as a soloist before thousands of New York Mets fans at Shea Stadium. Yang was also a featured soloist during the 2008 Spoleto Music Festival in Charleston, S.C.

Among the prestigious awards Yang has received in China are top prizes at the Long Yin Instrumental Competition, the Tian Hua erhu competition, the Chinese Ministry of Culture Annual Music Competition, and the Chinese National Cultural Foundation award.

Xiang Gao

Recognized as one of the world's most successful performing artists of his generation from China, Gao has been cited by The New York Times as "a rare and soulful virtuoso.”

He has performed for many world leaders, and recently was a featured soloist for Chinese President Hu JinTao and the visiting King Carlos I of Spain. His musical integrity and virtuoso technique have gained accolades from audiences and reviewers around the world.

Gao is professor of music at UD and the ZiJiang Professor of Music at the East China Normal University in Shanghai.

In 2007, the Stradivari Society in Chicago selected Gao to be a recipient of world famous Stradivarius violins for his international solo concerts.

As a keyboardist, arranger, songwriter and composer, Gao is also the founding artistic director of two non-profit music organizations in the U.S. -- the University of Delaware Master Players Concert Series and the China Music Foundation.