Li Chuang （China）
Li Chuang is a young pianist who has previously worked in the United States, currently serves as a piano faculty member at Chengdu Vocational University of the Arts, and is an artist-in-residence at A4 Residency Art Center. His performance venues span notable locations such as the Chicago Cultural Center, Merkin Hall in New York, Tanglewood Music Festival in the United States, the Royal Jazz Myra Hess Memorial Concert in the UK, Chengdu City Concert Hall, YunDuan Tianfu Concert Hall, Shenzhen Bay Arts Center, and Guangzhou Opera House, among others. Conductors Li Chuang has collaborated with include Dr. Cliff Colnot, Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Music Now series, and Scott Seaton, Principal Conductor of the North State Symphony in California.
Li Chuang’s performances have been broadcast globally by 98.7 WFMT, the classical music radio station in Chicago. Media coverage includes the International Music Association and the Chicago Forum newspaper. Li Chuang is a graduate of the School of Music at California State Polytechnic University and the School of Music at DePaul University in Chicago, where he studied under the tutelage of renowned pianists Professor Wu Chi, Dr. Daniela Mineva, and Professor George Vatchnadze.
Michel Marang （Netherlands）
Michel Marang studied clarinet with Walter Boeykens and finished conservatory cum laude in 1987, the same year in which he also got his degree in philosophy at Amsterdam University. Hereafter he studied with Hans Deinzer (Germany) and took masterclasses with Roger Heaton (England) and Susan Stephens (USA).
Apart from his interests and activities in classical music, theatre, and world music, Marang specializes in contemporary music. He collaborated with many composers, including Olivier Messiaen, Morton Feldman, Edison Denisov and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Over fifty compositions were dedicated to him and he was a member, guest and/or soloist with all the leading new music ensembles in Holland.
As a soloist, Michel Marang performed throughout Western Europe, the USA, Mexico, Canada, Russia, China, Ukraine, Estonia, India, and the Middle East. He gave seminars at many leading institutions, including the Moscow, Shanghai and Paris Conservatories. As a photographer, Marang concentrates on portraits and sequences. His work was exhibited in Amsterdam, New York and Moscow.
Jing Xia （ China）
An award-winning guzheng artist and ethnomusicologist based in Newfoundland, Canada. Born and raised in Hunan, China, Xia started to study the guzheng at six years old and holds degrees in music performance (B.A.), arts management (M.A.), and ethnomusicology (Ph.D.). Xia’s recent accolades include winning the 2023 East Coast Music Award “Roots/Traditional Recording of the Year” and the 2023 MusicNL Award “Album of the Year” for her solo album, “The Numinous Journey”. She was named the 2023 MusicNL “Solo Artist of the Year” and 2022 MusicNL “Rising Star of the Year”.
As a performer of all styles, her musical journey on the guzheng has encompassed Chinese traditional and folk music to intercultural ensembles, improvisational music, and beyond. Her 2022 guzheng CD “The Numinous Journey” shows her diverse musical pathways and presents the guzheng in a wide range of musical genres. Xia has played with various musicians and musical groups, including guzheng virtuoso Mei Han, Newfoundland trad-rock band Shanneyganock, and Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra. In 2018, she performed the world premiere of “The Congruent Place” in collaboration with the Regina-based composer Clinton Ackerman at the St. John’s Sound Symposium XIX. In January 2023, Xia world premiered Jubilant Entanglements, a guzheng concerto by well-known composer Andrew Staniland with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra. Xia has been active in the music scenes in North America and performed in diverse musical events, including DuneFest (Saint-Pierre et Miquelon), SappyFest (NB), Newfoundland Folk Festival, Nashville Chinese New Year Festival, and Vancouver International Jazz Festival. Moving her tradition into the future, Xia formed the Light Wind Ensemble, the first Chinese ensemble in Newfoundland, and XIA-3, a fusion intercultural band, with a repertoire ranging from Chinese classics to free improv and post-rock music.
As an educator and scholar, Xia has been teaching music for more than a decade and has given informative lectures, workshops, and performances at universities and conferences around the world. Her research focuses on the diasporic experience of professional Chinese instrumentalists and their intercultural and transnational music-making in North America. With a dedication to community enrichment, Xia has served as a board member in multiple music organizations, including the East Coast Music Association (ECMA), Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra (NSO), and the Association for the Arts in Mount Pearl (AAMP). She is an artist-researcher at the Currently Arts Society and the secretary of the Improvisation Section of the Society for Ethnomusicology. Xia has also worked as a researcher in many cultural organizations, including the Research Centre for the Study of Music, Media, and Place (NL, Canada), We Care Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL, Canada), the Center for Chinese Music and Culture (TN, the U.S.), and the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (Washington D.C., the U.S.).
Mystery Guest : Hou Liwei（China)
Young bass singer. Graduated from the Department of Vocal Opera of Shenyang Conservatory of Music, she studied under Professor Liu Hongwei, a soprano singer, vocal educator, and master’s tutor.
In 2023 he was invited to participate in the opening concert of the festival in honor of the great singer Dimitri Kholostovsky. He has been invited to hold vocal music open classes and sharing and exchange meetings at music conservatories in Moscow, Minsk, St. Petersburg and other places. He has collaborated with conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Anton Grishanin, Yuan Ding, Arif Dadashev, Pavel Smerkov, etc
