Ye Xiaogang is one of China's brightest musical stars and part of a loosely affiliated group of internationally known musicians which also includes Tan Dun, Guo Wenjing, Chen Qigang, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, and Bright Sheng.
Born in Shanghai in 1955, Ye showed musical ability at an early age and started studying piano with his father when he was 4 years old.
In 1978, he went on to study composition at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing with renowned Chinese composer Du Mingxin. He also attended special composition courses directed by British composer Alexander Gorhr in 1981.
After graduation, he stayed on at the conservatory as a teacher as well as a resident composer. In 1983, his concerto The Song of the New Moon was released by Hong Kong Records Co Ltd.
In 1984, representing young Chinese composers, Ye attended the Asia Pacific Art Festival and Composers Conference in New Zealand, where his Xijiangyue (The Moon Over the West River) was premiered by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
A 1985 concert featuring his symphonic works including Story of the Old Man, Eight Horses and Horizon in Beijing established him as one of the leading composers in Chinese contemporary music.
The following year, the China Record Company chose his Horizon as part of its ground-breaking Selected Works by Chinese Young Composers series for its inspiring combination of Chinese musical traditions with contemporary Western forms and instrumentation. The same year his music was featured at the First Contemporary Chinese Composers Festival in Hong Kong.
In 1990 and 1991, his Threnody and The Ruin of the Himalaya won the Louis Lane Prize and the Howard Hanson Prize.
(China Daily October 15, 2002)
