Performers › Composers
Liu Wenjin
Composer for the Central Chinese Orchestra whose erhu works Yubei Narrative, Sanmenxia Fantasy and the concerto Great Wall Capriccio are core repertoire.
In a palace music hall, a frame of tiered bronze chime bells hangs from dragon-carved beams, with one person standing with their back turned holding two mallets before it; a large red drum and a rack of red knotted cords stand to the left and a stone chime to the right, in evening light.
- Roles
- Composers
Liu Wenjin, whose family came from Anyang, Henan, was born in Tangshan, Hebei, in May 1937 and grew up in Anyang, where he learned erhu, dizi and other instruments in a school band. In 1956 he entered the Central Conservatory, studying composition with Lin Chaoxia and Huang Xiaofei and erhu with Chen Zhenduo; as a student he wrote Yubei Narrative (1959) and Sanmenxia Fantasy (1960), both now erhu teaching pieces. After graduating in 1961 he became staff composer of the Central Chinese Orchestra and later its director. In 1982 he completed the four-movement erhu concerto Great Wall Capriccio, premiered by Min Huifen. He died of illness in Beijing on 27 June 2013.
Life and times
Dates 1937–2013