9:48 a.m., Nov. 30, 2007--Xiang Gao, University of Delaware associate professor of music and internationally renowned violinist, has had an eventful 2007 with the promise of much more to come in the months ahead. He has entertained presidents and kings, has been invited to perform at Carnegie Hall and, with his China Magpie ensemble, has been asked to perform at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Last summer, Gao was invited by President Hu JinTao of China to perform at the People's Hall on TianAnMen square in Beijing for a concert the president hosted for the visiting King Juan Carlos I of Spain.

In August, China Magpie was invited by the Chinese government to perform for the China Olympic Committee's major television events in Macau to celebrate the one-year countdown to the Olympic Games.

In November, a live performance by China Magpie in HeNan Province for a government-sponsored exposition was shown on CCTV in Asia and its network stations in Europe and the Americas, serving more than 1 billion viewers worldwide. (Click here to see the video of that performance.)

Most recently, China Magpie has been invited to perform at the Beijing Olympic Games.

“My name in Chinese means 'soaring high,' and I feel like I am able to do just that with my ensemble China Magpie,” Gao said.

A crossover group that is well-known on the UD campus, where it has performed twice as part of the acclaimed Master Players Chamber Series, China Magpie was established in Beijing as part of Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road project. The four-member ensemble has appeared in many of the world's major concert halls and festivals since 2004.

With no musical boundaries, the ensemble's repertoire presents a unique mix of ancient Chinese folk music and different styles of Western music from classical to rock. Their energetic performance style is rhythmically driven, with fiery improvisation.

Members include Gao, vocalist and master performer of Chinese wind instruments Wu Tong, guitarist and virtuoso ruan (Chinese lute) player Liu Lin and virtuoso pipa (pear-shaped Chinese lute) player Hui Li.

Gao is one of the world's most established concerto soloists and recitalists from China, and is the only violinist invited by Carnegie Hall to perform during its 2009 season. UD has provided him the Ceruti violin and he is recipient of the 1699 “Lady Tennant” Stradivarius violin from the Stradivari Society of Chicago. Gao created the Butterfly Lovers Multimedia Violin Concerto, which debuted with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in February.

Wu Tong performed as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony in 2007 and was the featured vocalist on The David Letterman Show and Good Morning America, as well as on the Silk Road Ensemble's award-winning recording Where Strangers Meet on Sony Classical.

Liu Lin is one of China's most respected pop music stars and has collaborated with more than 50 celebrity pop singers in Asia, including Sun Nan and Han Hong of China, Faye Wang and Tong AnGeh of Taiwan, and Liu DeHua and Li Ming of Hong Kong.

Hui Li is an international prize-winning soloist who was recently invited by composer Bright Sheng to perform in his chamber opera The Silver River in North America and Singapore, which features a pipa soloist on stage as its leading role, “Goddess Weaver.”

Gao's last appearance in the area this season is scheduled for April 18-19. He is creating a new concert production called "iMusic--Xiang Gao and Friends IV", which he said offers a “very fresh and wonderful way of presenting classical music for the whole family.”

Last year, “Xiang Gao and Friends III” was sold out three months in advance, hence, he is repeating it on April 19. Tickets are selling very fast and are available at the Bob Carpenter Center and Trabant University Center box offices. The concert will involve many world-class artists, Gao said, and will be performed in a multimedia fashion that he promised will take one's breath away. For ticket information, call (302) 831-4012 or call Ticketmaster at (302) 984-2000.

Article by Neil Thomas