Photo by Linda Groves

Cheng Yu | Advisor

Born in Beijing and formerly a pipa soloist with the Central Orchestra of Chinese Music in China, Cheng Yu is a renowned pipa lute and guqin zither virtuoso, ethnomusicologist and specialist in Chinese music. She studied the pipa from the age of 7 from her father (a Pudong pipa master) and the guqin zither from the age of 14, graduating with distinction from the Xi’an Conservatory of Music and winning several top prizes for her pipa performances. Based in London since the 1990s, she gained scholarships for her MMus and PhD degrees in ethnomusicology (SOAS, University of London). She is a co-founder of the UK Chinese Music Ensemble (1998), London Youlan Qin Society (2003) and the award winning Silk String Quartet (2007). Besides performing regularly in Europe and the UK,  Cheng Yu has been actively involved in contemporary and cross-culture/genre music collaborations with musicians such as pianist Lang Lang, cellist Matthew Barley, Damon Albarn and composers including Tan Dun, Zhou Long, Philip Glass, Peter Wiegold and Gabriel Prokofiev. 

www.ukchinesemusic.com