By Victor Chen, bostonese.com
Boston, June 30, 2015, After finishing the two-year Artist Diploma program at Berklee, Yazhi Guo, a woodwinds master player who enjoys prestigious reputation in Asia, gave a recital and present his academic achievements during the two years. The music genres of the recital was mixed with traditional Chinese music, jazz, music.
In the program, Guo played more than ten different traditional Chinese wind instruments, displaying the charm and subtlety of such rarely heard instruments as the xun (an ancient clay ocarina dating back 7,000 years); the guanzi and shuangguan (single and double oboes with clarinet-like tone); and various sizes of suona (a shawm with metal bell). Other instruments included the houguan (bamboo oboe), hulusi (gourd triple pipe), yu di (jade flute), mu ye (tree leaf), and soprano saxophone.
“I learned many different styles of music at Berklee, and I tried to adopt some of the Jazz elements when I play these traditional Chinese instruments,” said Mr. Guo.
Guo is China’s premier performer of the suona, also playing nearly 30 other musical instruments such as the guanzi, bawu, and saxophone. A native of Shanxi province in northern China, he trained at the prestigious Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where he taught for several years following his graduation. He has released a dozen CDs, performed as a soloist with orchestras throughout China and around the world, and frequently appears on CCTV, China’s national television network.
In June 1998 he was selected by the Chinese Ministry of Culture as one of China’s most outstanding musicians, and was invited to give a solo performance for the heads of state during President Clinton’s visit to Beijing. Between 1999 and 2011 he served as principal suona performer for the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, winning a Hong Kong Arts Development Award for Best Artist (Music) in 2012. Also a performer of jazz and popular music (often in combination with traditional Chinese music), he has invented a sliding reed device that allows the suona to be played chromatically, and is currently studying at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
The song Selections of Yazhi Guo’s World of Winds at Berklee are below.
· Soprano, Tenor Saxophone, Suona and Voice: Yazhi Guo
· Voice: Yun Huang, Zhen Tian
· Erhu: Tao He
· Guzheng: Zjhan H Weng
· Alto Saxophone: Billy Yeung
· Piano: Utar Artun, Lingda Meng
· Guitar : Nikola Stajic –
· Bass : Akos Forgacs
· drummer : Fabrizio Cavallaro
· Dj: Qu Guo
· Strings:
· vilolins x4 :
· Yongxiang Ren, Qirui Wang