You Are Invited to Boston Guzheng Ensemble’s 10th Anniversary Concert in Lexington

By Boston Guzheng Ensemble

Join us for an enchanted evening of Chinese music! To celebrate of 10th anniversary the Boston Guzheng Ensemble will present a concert with Chinese traditional folk tunes, new composition, and Chinese pop song. The guzheng is a Chinese 21-string zither and the ensemble is the only guzheng ensemble in New England.

Guzheng is an ancient a traditional plucked Chinese instrument and it belongs to the zither family. It is also an ancestor of the Japanese koto and the Korean kayagum. The guzheng has been developed from a small instrument made from bamboo, originally used by herdsmen. It was very popular during the ancient times, as early as the Chinese Warring States times and the Chinese Qin Dynasty (255BC-206BC and earlier). Therefore another commonly used name of zheng is guzheng ("ancient" pronounced "Gu" in Chinese).

The zither has a horizontal wooden box resonator. The resonator has an arched surface and is elongated-trapezoidal with 16 to 21 strings stretched over individual moveable bridges. Although metal strings and Nylon wound metal strings are common today, the strings of guzheng were of silk in the ancient days.

Shin-Yi Yang, who plays both guqin and guzheng, is the founder of the Boston Guzheng Ensemble. She is the two-time winner of the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship given by the Massachusetts Cultural Council's Folk Arts and Heritage Program, the 2008 Chinese Culture Connection Award, and was once interviewed by the WGBH radio station's program called "Arts and Ideas".

Please find details of our 10th anniversary concert below. Saturday, December 8, 2012 7:30 p.m. Maxwell Auditorium, National Heritage Museum 33 Marrett Road, Lexington, MA 02421 Free Admission ($5 suggested donation is appreciated) Info.: 617-782-3000 (Ms. Yang) www.bostonguzheng.org Sponsored by Chinese Culture Connection.