Prof Zhang Hongyan's Profile
Prof Zhang Hongyan is a renowned Pipa (Chinese lute) performer and educator, as well as a professor and doctoral supervisor at the Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM), China. Her album, “Ambush on All Sides”, has been sold in more than 40 countries and regions. In 2006, her album received the Award for Recording Arts and Sciences of Asia, and was chosen to be permanently housed in the Library of Congress (USA) and the American Folklife Center. As a devoted volunteer music educator, Prof Zhang always participates in musical activities rather than merely instructing. Through her method of “playing whilst talking”, she has led her Plucked-string Group to hold many lecture concerts across many countries and regions including Asia, America and Africa while also attracting many folk music enthusiasts.
A Citation for Honorary Fellow Prof Zhang Hongyan
Prof Zhang Hongyan is a renowned Pipa (Chinese lute) performer and educator, as well as a professor and doctoral supervisor at the Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM), China. Her album, “Ambush on All Sides”, has been sold in more than 40 countries and regions. In 2006, her album received the Award for Recording Arts and Sciences of Asia, and was chosen to be permanently housed at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress (USA). Over the past decades, Prof Zhang has devoted herself to promoting Chinese traditional music in dynamic and creative ways such as personal concert series and “playing whilst talking” lecture concerts. She also took the leading role in setting up the CCOM Plucked-string Group. Prof Zhang’s close collaborations with famous orchestras from more than 30 countries and regions have facilitated the fusion between Chinese and Western music. She has been called “A Beautiful and Unique Messenger and Music Fairy from the East”.
For her outstanding musical talent, Prof Zhang was admitted to the Central Conservatory of Music Middle School at age 10. Since then, she has endeavoured to absorb the quintessence of Chinese music from diversified perspectives and explore the harmonious fusion between Chinese and Western Music. After extensive research and practice with “Pipa and Symphony Orchestra” and "Multiple Constitutions of Chinese Plucked-string Music”, Prof Zhang initiated a concerto which included both Chinese instruments and elements of Western symphony orchestra in China. Her discourse based on her own perspective and experience on the impacts that the new era has brought to Chinese traditional music is acclaimed to be the most important memorabilia in the early 21st Century of Chinese Music. The CCOM Plucked-string Group that Prof Zhang founded is a very creative and representative orchestra which has received substantial recognition. Her virtuosity with the Pipa and her devotion to music education have earned her many awards in China and overseas.
As a devoted public music educator, Prof Zhang always participates in musical activities rather than merely instructing. Through her series of “playing whilst talking”, she has led her Plucked-string Group to hold many lecture concerts in Asian, American and African countries and regions, and attracted many folk music enthusiasts. In Beijing, Prof Zhang has continuously given monthly non-commercial lectures on Chinese culture and Pipa, in order to disseminate music education to the community at large.
Mr Chairman, in recognition of Prof Zhang’s outstanding achievements in Pipa performance as well as her unremitting endeavour to the art of music and the fusion between Eastern and Western music, and in appreciation of her invaluable dedication to public music education, it is my privilege to present her to you for the award of an Honorary Fellowship.
