Shanghai Quartet with Wu Man, pipa February 27, 2011

"Wu Man's pipa can crack jokes, sing sweetly, caress, howl, or roar—sounds you'd scarcely dream it was possible to produce with 10 fingernails and four strings over a shallow rosewood box." — Guardian Unlimited

"The Shanghai cohesively blends the music’s pulsing rhythms and thrusting figurations with intelligence and grace." — The New York Times

The Shanghai Quartet displays an unrivalled capacity for melding the delicacy of Eastern music with the emotional depths of Western repertoire. Such facility enables its musicians to fluidly traverse a repertoire whose global breadth runs the gamut from traditional Chinese folk music to cutting-edge contemporary pieces. Pipa virtuoso Wu Man is both a master of the lute-like instrument and a major advocate of the pipa's place in all art forms across the hemispheres. Having been brought up in the Pudong School of pipa playing, one of the most prestigious classical styles of Imperial China, Wu Man is an outstanding exponent of the traditional repertoire as well as a leading interpreter of contemporary pipa music by today’s most prominent composers.

The program will include a new quintet for pipa and string quartet by Chinese-born American composer and 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship winner Lei Liang.

Presented in partnership with the Department of Music.

Official Website: http://modlin.richmond.edu/events/great-performances/shanghai-quartet-with-wu-man.html