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Guo Wenjing
Guo Wenjing was born in 1956, in Sichuan, a mountainous region in the Southwestern China and home to witchcraft and shamanic rituals. As a very young child, he taught himself the violin, a present from his parents in an effort to discourage him from loitering on the streets of Chongqing, at that time witness to violent confrontations. During the Cultural Revolution, he familiarized himself with the folkmusic of Sichuan, an important influence on his early compositions. A violinist at the Dance and Choral Ensemble of Chongqing (1970-1977), he began composing before entering, in 1978, the Peking Central Conservatory, where he has continued as a teacher since 1983. Member of the Association of Chinese Musicians and recipient of numerous national and international prizes, Guo Wenjing has been invited to Sweden by the Royal Institute of Music and to the United States by the Asian Cultural Council, the University of Cincinnati and the Manhattan School of Music. He has written numerous scores for both film and television. From the symphony to the concerto, from symphonic poem to chamber music, his work has been performed in China, the United States, and, since 1993, in Europe, at the initiative of the Nieuw Ensemble and its artistic director, Joel Bons. Major works include : Ba (1982), The River of Sichuan (1981-1984), Concerto (1986-1987), Shu Dao Nan (1987), cantata taken from a poem by Li Bai, Shou Kong Shan (1991), and Yun Nan (1993). In 1995, the Festival d'Automne presented The Wolfcub's Village (1993-1994), an opera based on the work of Lu Xun, followed in 1998 by a concert devoted to his works and featuring an orchestral suite (1994-1997) of the opera, as well as Drama op. 23 (1995), Inscriptions on Bone op. 24 (1996) and Concertino pour violoncelle et ensemble op. 26 (1997). In 1998, Guo Wenjing composed Echoes of Heaven and Earth op. 31 for a cappella choir and solo percussionist with settings of sanscrit, tibetan and chinese texts. He is currently working on a chamber opera based on the life of the sixth Dalai-Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso (18th century) and a work for harp and ensemble. |
