Music

Renowned guzheng performer Xu Lingzi graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and continued on to teach at the Conservatory for years until her transferral to the China Central Nationalities' Orchestra as a soloist. Honoured as National First-Class Performer in China, she has been teaching at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts since 1995. She was also a visiting professor at Central Conservatory of Music and Nanjing Conservatory of Music. Ms. Xu’s first teachers are her father Xu Shoucheng and her mother Ding Boling, both of whom are full-time Guzheng tutor in Wuhan Conservatory of Music. Ms. Xu was also taught by the most notable Guzheng educators and performing artists including Wang Changyuan, He Baoquan, Sun Wenyan, and Guo Ying.Ms.Xu has been recognized by the “Excellent Teacher Award” of Shanghai Conservatory of Music on China’s first Teachers’Day in 1985, one of the recipients of the First Chinese Golden Record Award in 1989 for her recording 《高山流水》和《渔舟唱晚》. and the essay《时空轮转看筝曲寒鸦戏水音乐意象之变》, award on the first “Huayue Cup – Commentary on China National Instrumental Music Works”and the expert of Peak Plateau Discipline Construction project of Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

The orchestras Ms. Xu served include China Central Nationalities' Orchestra, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Guangdong National Orchestra, Macao Chinese Orchestra, China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra, and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the famous orchestra conductors Ms. Xu has cooperated with include He Zhanhao, Chen Xieyang, Hu Bingxu, Yan Huichang, and Yu Long. Miyatarō Satoh (Japan), Peng Jiapeng, Lum Yan Sing (Singapore), Ms. Xu has soloed at the Lincoln Center of New York, Golden Hall of Vienna, Victoria Concert Hall of Singapore, Beijing Concert Hall, Shanghai Concert Hall, Xinghai Concert Hall, Hong Kong Culture Center, and Hong Kong City Hall, covering twenty countries and regions. She has also held “Xu Lingzi Guzheng Solo Concert”many times  Since and recorded numbers of solo albums, working with famous recording companies such as PolyGram Records, White Swan Records, and Taiwan Cradle Records. She was also invited to introduce her artistic life of Guzheng in TV programs like BTV’s Spring Festival Concert, CCTV’s Revolving Stage, and CNR’s Artists of Musical World.

In recent years, Ms. Xu has been invited to give lectures in Central Conservatory of Music, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Nanjing Conservatory of Music, Wuhan Conservatory of Music, Xinghai Conservatory of Music, National Taiwan University of Arts, Hong Kong Central Library, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and City University of Hong Kong. Her lectures cover topics like “Forms of Expression of Guzheng” , “Relaxation, Penetration, Speed, Force and”,  “Comments on the Research of Guzheng”, “Philosophy and Music”,  “Change to the Musical Imageries on Jackdaws Playing with Water in the Consideration of Cyclical Time and Space”, “Scenery and Emotion”, “Language of Guzheng music”, “Comprehensive Study of Guzheng”, “Interpretation of Guzheng Style”, and “History of Guzheng for Eight Decades”. Recently, she has been focusing her research on the imagery of Guzheng and the use of physical strength in the musical performance, and concluded a set of performing skills including “force from the ground, music from the heart and hand on the central axis”. These skills demonstrate the changes to temperament, tension in the stage performance and teaching. Her students have won awards in important competitions competition in China and Hong Kong. Her essays include the “Kneading and Pressing by the Left Hand in the Performance of Guzheng”, “A Preliminary Study of the Formation of Hakka Musical Style”, “Philosophy and Music”, “Change to the Musical Imageries of Jackdaws Playing with Water in the Consideration of Cyclical Time and Space” were published in China’s leading journals, seminars and international academic symposiums. Ms. Xu was also appointed as judge at some important national contests such as Gold Bell Award.

Ms. Xu’s stage performance is widely acclaimed for its tension and appeal.  The compliments on her performance include “a stunning show” (周凡夫, Hong Kong Economic Journal 2003.3.17), “the exceptional acuteness in Guzheng and even the perception of space in acoustic system”  (Deng Shu, People’s Music, August 2018.8), “the outstanding musical talent” (the publicity material of China National Traditional Orchestra), “the world-class master” as praised by Wang Cizhao, President of the Central Conservatory of Music after the concert in celebration of the 30th anniversary of The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and “the one with the best sense of music I’ve ever seen” (Hu Dengtiao, Dean of National Music Department of Shanghai Conservatory of Music).  Toronto Star and Italy’s La Provincia described her as comparable to the world-renowned harpists Nicanor Zabaleta and the violinist Paganini. Ms. Xu’s artistic accomplishment has been recorded in the “Classics of Chinese Music”.