Xiao-Ming Xie returns to China Cornucopia, January 2000

Xiao-Ming Xie -- Xie Xiao-Ming in Chinese -- is returning to China in March [2000] to be principal horn in the Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony. "This is the first new orchestra in China since 1949," says Xiao-Ming. "It pays well, in dollars, and most members are foreigners. Concerts will be broadcast nationally, and the first concert includes Strauss' Alpine Symphony."

Xiao-Ming explains that there are good conservatories in the major cities in China -- Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou (near Hong Kong). Each city has one conservatory of traditional Chinese music and one for Western music. Xiao-Ming attended the Central Conservatory in Beijing, which teaches Western music, from middle school through college, then came to Boston for graduate study at BU with Eric Ruske. "I still had a lot to learn when I came here," he says.

Xiao-Ming points out that there are many fine Chinese musicians in orchestras around the world (especially string players) and pianists and vocalists. "The musicians stay away from China because of the money," he says. "Musicians are paid very little in China, with little opportunity. With better pay, I think some will now go back."

Paul Meng, host of the IHS Symposium next summer [2000], has written about the early orchestras and the first horn players and teachers in China in the November [1999] issue of The Horn Call. Additional articles are to appear in the February [2000] and May [2000] issues.

Western music has been known and played in China for about a hundred years. First it was Europeans who played in orchestras in Shanghai, Ha'erbin (north), and Beijing for other Europeans. Gradually, Chinese took over the orchestras and established conservatories.

The Boxer Rebellion, the Japanese invasion, the world war, the Cultural Revolution, and other political upheavals affected the course of music in China. It was often difficult to obtain music, instruments, and other necessities of musical performance and education.

Other aspects of Chinese music have been in the news recently. A 9000-year-old seven-holed flute, the oldest playable musical instrument ever discovered, was found at a Neolithic archeological site. The flute is made from the wing bones of a red-crowned crane, and it has a small extra hole, presumably a correction for intonation.

A concert in Boston in September honored the Tcherepnin family. Russian pianist and composer Alexander Tcherepnin arrived in Shanghai in 1934. He discovered traditional Chinese instruments but was concerned that Chinese composers ignored their traditions to imitate European composers. Tcherepnin encouraged Chinese national music and championed it around the world. His own music shows the influence of Chinese music.

Xiao-Ming has been freelancing in Boston since his graduation. He looks forward to returning to China, but Eric Ruske plans to bring him back for the BU Tanglewood Institute each year. Xiao-Ming will be in Beijing this July [2000] to welcome us to the IHS Symposium.

The two Chinese characters are yuan hao, which means "big, round trumpet" -- horn. In the photo, Xiao-Ming is translating for Eric Ruske in his masterclass at the IHS Symposium in Beijing in 2000. Xiao-Ming is now principal horn of the China Philharmonic Orchestra in Beijing.

Back to Index