Podcasts about shanghai conservatory

In this episode, we dive into the musical journey of Anastasia Fridman, a violinist from the Netherlands who fell in love with the traditional Chinese string instrument – the erhu. Her passion led her to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where she immersed herself in the world of traditional Chinese repertoire. Through the fusion of Eastern and Western sounds, Anastasia strives to build musical bridges across cultures.

Storyteller Bill Gordh and pipa master Zhou Yi improvise the Chinese folktale The Dragon's Eye which tells the story of a tinker who meets and befriends an orphaned dragon whom he raises in his home. Zhou Yi is a pipa (a four-string Chinese lute) soloist, educator, and the Artistic Director of the Ba Ban Chinese Music Society of NY.  She graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in China.Recording courtesy of George WurzbachSupport the showKeep in touch with us! Join our newsletter

Storyteller Bill Gordh and pipa master Zhou Yi improvise the Chinese folktale The Dragon's Eye which tells the story of a tinker who meets and befriends an orphaned dragon whom he raises in his home. Zhou Yi is a pipa (a four-string Chinese lute) soloist, educator, and the Artistic Director of the Ba Ban Chinese Music Society of NY.  She graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in China.Recording courtesy of George WurzbachSupport the showKeep in touch with us! Join our newsletter

In this episode, we dive into the world of the bamboo flute, one of the oldest musical instruments known in China. Celebrated flutist Tang Junqiao joins us today, sharing with us several of her very own handpicked songs. Tang is a leading figure of contemporary Chinese folk music who has been to many parts of the world performing concertos with the bamboo flute among internationally known orchestras. She is also an educator currently with the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

Kate is back and this time she is hosting (with some help from Maitreyi). This episode will feature a few new segments for the summer (Outside the Nest and This or That) along with some returning favorites (Play What!, Joke of the Week and Poetry Corner). Here's the rundown! Outside the Nest: Olivia will give you all the information about "Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation" on Sunday, June 12th from 11 to 1 PM in downtown Ann Arbor, MI (don't worry you can still donate online if you cannot make it). This or That: Avery will be asking random Emerson students if they prefer "This" or "That" in this new segment. Avery will be bringing more additions over the summer. Joke of the Week with Ellie! Play What!: Fayfay returns to share the piece that helped her get accepted into The Shanghai Conservatory of Music this fall. Congratulations Fayfay, we are all so proud of you! Poetry Corner: Evan shares his poem about our mascot "The Eagle"

Episode 97- I love these podcasts where you can feel the passion and dedication to live music and entertainment. Please welcome Carol Jin. Born in Shanghai, China, Carol has worked in the music industry for 7 years. She graduated from Shanghai Conservatory of Music majoring in Arts management in 2018. She did internships including the National Arts Center Canada and Mercedes-Benz Arena Shanghai. She was also the part-time stage hand at MAO Livehouse Shanghai when she was 19.  After graduating from university, she joined Live Nation, the biggest live entertainment company in the world, for almost 3 years, doing events operations. She assisted organizing concerts for artists such as Charlie Puth, Mariah Carey, Troye Sivan.   In 2021, after taking 2-month break in Dali, China (where I met Carol), She worked as the tour manager for 2 Taiwanese bands, KST and Fool & Idiot, organizing 42 shows in 5 months. Instagram @caroljin_0720 https://tellcraigyourstory.podbean.com https://www.linktr.ee/tellcraigyourstory @tellcraigyourstory Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcCr6P3Ja395SkapnECvOFw?view_as=subscriber #caroljin #tellcraigyourstory #livenation #maolivehouse #mercedesbenzarena #daliyunnan #shanghaichina #foolandidiot #kst #taiwaneseband #mariahcarey #brunomars #greenday #metallica #ottawacanada #mexicocity #melbourne #tourmanager #archenemy #dragonforce #queen #chalieputh #troyesivan  

Vian Lin is a pianist, educator, businesswoman and influencer based in Brisbane QLD, and a mum of 4 children.Vian was born in Shanghai China and lived in Paris before arriving in Brisbane in 2002 to pursue her music studies. Vian started her piano journey at Shanghai Conservatory of Music when she was just 3 years old. She went on to win the Australian Yamaha Piano Competition at the age of 17 and performed at the Sydney Opera House. That same year Vian received a scholarship from University of Queensland, and went on to tour more than 10 countries, and performed a piano solo with her own piece – “Two Cities” at the 2014 G20 Summit in Brisbane.In the past decade, Vian has worked with lots of world class artists and musicians, including Dami Im, the Queensland and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, Yo-Yo Ma, and so many more. Vian has performed for Queensland Performing Arts Centre Brisbane Festival and other major festivals in Australia, and around the world.In 2011, Vian created Harmonie Music Centre and Harmonie International and started her new business chapter with a group of young Australian musicians who share the same goals. Vian is now the director and owner of these businesses. Over the past 11 years, Harmonie has brought household names from China, Japan, Korea, Hungary and Croatia, in over 300 performances to over 200,000 patrons in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Auckland. Her goal is to share Asian culture with every resident in Australia and all over the world. Vian is also an educator who has students over all over the world.Through her social media handle 'Not Just a Pianist' Vian shares her love of music, collaborates with fashions houses such as Burberry and seeks to change long held stereotypes about China and pianists.Vian - Facebook / Instagram: / Youtube Podcast - instagram / websiteVian's music is used throughout this episode with permission.When chatting to my guests I greatly appreciate their openness and honestly in sharing their stories. If at any stage their information is found to be incorrect, the podcast bears no responsibility for guests' inaccuracies.

Synopsis Today's date marks the premiere of two works written by émigré composers: one Austrian, the other Chinese. On Nov 4th, 1948, the Albuquerque Civic Symphony gave the first performance of Arnold Schoenberg's powerful piece for narrator, chorus and orchestra entitled “A Survivor from Warsaw.”  Schoenberg had met some survivors of the Nazi pogroms in the Warsaw ghetto. He was profoundly moved as they recounted their harrowing experiences, so Schoenberg set their recollections to music, utilizing a twelve-tone theme which is revealed only at the end of the work, where it supplies the traditional melody of a Jewish prayer of comfort and hope. On today's date in 1993, Boulder, Colorado, was the venue for the premiere of the String Quartet No. 3 by the Chinese composer Bright Sheng. “It was inspired by the memory of a Tibetan folk dance which I came across about 25 years ago when I was living in a province on the border between China and Tibet,” recalled Sheng. At that time, Madame Mao's “Cultural Revolution” was in full force, and that explains why a teenage pianist from Shanghai ended up on a remote Chinese frontier. Eventually, Sheng was able to enroll in the Shanghai Conservatory, and in 1982 came to New York. Music Played in Today's Program Arnold Schoenberg (1874 – 1951) — A Survivor from Warsaw (Simon Callow, narrator; London Symphony; Robert Craft, cond) Koch 7263 Bright Sheng (b. 1955) — String Quartet No. 3 (Shanghai Quartet) BIS 1138

The Chinese-American bass Yi-Kwei Sze (1915-1994) was the first Chinese singer to achieve worldwide prominence in the world of Western classical music. From his first studies with Vladimir Shushlin at the Shanghai Conservatory, Sze's sound and artistic soul carried on the great tradition of the Russian basses, including that of Alexander Kipnis, with whom he studied after emigrating to the United States in 1947. This episode captures Sze's legacy in both his live and (comparatively rare) studio recordings, including operatic arias by Verdi, Mozart and Handel, and songs by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Mussorgsky, and Rachmaninov. Alongside my tribute to this great artist, I also consider the plight of the Asian musician as eloquently set forth in a riveting article published in The New York Times. Over the course of the past nearly two years since I have been producing the podcast, I consider Yi-Kwei Sze to be one of the greatest artistic discoveries on my own path. A note for my Patreon supporters: a second Yi-Kwei Sze episode is being published today that further explores his recorded legacy. Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel's lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody's core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. At Countermelody's core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. And please head to my Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available.

Today you get to meet a great friend of mine, Angela Qianwen Shen! Get to know Angela, who is one of the most recently hired first violinists of the MET Orchestra, up close and personal! Born and raised in Anhui and Shanghai, China, Angela pursued her dreams -- and after attending Shanghai Conservatory of Music, as well as the New England Conservatory, Mannes School of Music, and New World Symphony, she ultimately landed the job of her dreams. Listen to her speak about her experiences, how music education contrasts between various countries, as well as audition tips and advice... AND her top three *must-haves* in boys!!! I had such a great time, thanks to coffee over zoom, and I hope you will too! Instagram: @angela______s (6 underscores) Facebook: angela.shen.357 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/julia-choi/support

Welcome to East West Hurricane! 🌪We update you on the most essential news from Asia in tech, media, and business—the things you need to know that you probably haven’t heard in Western media.Follow us on Twitter and Instagram! ⚡️AI Influencers Open Up World Artificial Intelligence Conference 🤖Last week, the World Artificial Intelligence Conference began in Shanghai on July 9. The two and a half hour opening ceremony included features from Elon Musk, Jack Ma, Pony Ma, and more. There was also a special performance by four AI-generated virtual influencers: Xiaoice from Microsoft, DuerOS by Baidu, Mi Ai from Mi, and Lingyuan from Bilibili.For each of these companies who created virtual idols, the WAIC opening ceremony was a chance to showcase their level of AI expertise. Microsoft’s Xiaoci’s learned music with input from human students at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Bilibili’s virtual idols Lingyuan and Yousa are just two examples of the company’s own virtual idol business division. The technology behind the development of virtual influencers has been progressing over the years and the challenges posed by the coronavirus will accelerate their adoption as marketing tools.Pinduoduo Helps Embassies Increase Tourism 🗺Pinduoduo, the premier Chinese social commerce platform home to over 600 million customers, has been partnering with foreign embassies and consulates to help promote their country’s products. By using tools like livestreaming, Pinduoduo is helping these countries sell their unique national products to the huge Chinese market. As an example, on June 23 the Thai Consulate based in Beijing hosted a four-hour livestream showcasing Thai fruit products like durians, coconuts, and mangosteens. More than 330,000 viewers watched the event and it was directly endorsed by Thailand’s Consul General. Thailand’s durian exports have increased 26% year-over-year and 67% of those go directly to China.Other embassies have also done live broadcasts on Pinduoduo across the month of June, including Serbia, Poland, Hungary, and Bulgaria. In another example, the Danish Embassy hosted a livestream on June 20 promoting a Danish cookie brand, jewellery maker, and outdoor clothing brand. This is a brilliant marketing tactic by the countries who have embraced this, as livestreaming is probably the single best way to reach China’s customers today and the demand for international goods is increasing. Pinduoduo reported that the “global purchase” merchandise category has grown 470% year-over-year during last month’s shopping festival.Indian E-Commerce Companies Face New Labelling Regulation 💌By August 1st, every single Indian e-commerce company will have to specify ‘country of origin’ for their products. With this new rule, all products listed online will have to now include this information. Prior to this regulation, e-commerce companies like Flipkart, Amazon, and Jio had no obligation to state where their products came from. Now they are aiming to extend the deadline by a few months to deal with the logistical challenges of applying this to their entire product catalog, which can often amount to tens of millions of different items.This is part of a broader economic decoupling encouraged by the Indian government, who wants to decrease imports and increase locally produced goods. Given the recent political and economic tensions between India and China, this move by the Indian Ministry of Trade is in line with Prime Minister Narendra’s Modi’s movement towards building a more self-sufficient nation. People have also been calling for boycotts of Chinese products, so these new labels will likely decrease the amount of Chinese goods bought by Indians. And yet, things could always go even further with restrictions on trade and commerce. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit eastwesthurricane.substack.com

This is one of the very earliest Biblio File interviews. Please excuse the audio. (Listening to it - I'm embarrassed to learn that I wasn't able to read all of Certainty before conducting the interview - despite not having had much time to prepare [This would never happen today - well, except in the case of Eimear McBride's A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing, but that's another story] ).  Madeleine Thien was born in Vancouver. She is the author of the story collection Simple Recipes (2001), and three novels,  Certainty  (2006); Dogs at the Perimeter (2011), shortlisted for Berlin's  International Literature Prize and winner of the Frankfurt Book Fair's 2015 Liberaturpreis; and Do Not Say We Have Nothing  (2016), about musicians studying Western classical music at the Shanghai Conservatory in the 1960s, and about the legacy of the 1989 Tiananmen demonstrations. Her books and stories are published in Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Australia, and have been translated into 25 languages.  Do Not Say We Have Nothing won the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize, the 2016 Governor-General's Literary Award for Fiction, and an Edward Stanford Prize; and was shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize, the 2017 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction, and The Folio Prize 2017. The novel was named a New York Times Critics' Top Book of 2016 and longlisted for a Carnegie Medal.

Today's podcast is with Du Yun, born and raised in Shanghai, China, and currently based in New York City, works at the intersection of opera, orchestral, theatre, cabaret, musical, oral tradition, public performances, electronics, visual arts, and noise. Her body of work is championed by some of today’s finest performing groups and organizations around the world. Known for her “relentless originality and unflinching social conscience” (The New Yorker), Du Yun’s second opera, Angel’s Bone (libretto by Royce Vavrek), won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize; in 2018 she was named a Guggenheim Fellow; and in 2019, she was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Classical Composition category for her work Air Glow. As an avid performer and bandleader (Ok Miss), her onstage persona has been described by the New York Times as “an indie pop diva with an avant-garde edge.” Du Yun is Professor of Composition at the Peabody Institute, and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. A community champion, Du Yun was a founding member of the International Contemporary Ensemble; served as the Artistic Director of MATA Festival (2014-2018); conceived the Pan Asia Sounding Festival (National Sawdust); and founded FutureTradition, a global initiative that illuminates the provenance lineages of folk art and uses these structures to build cross-regional collaborations from the ground up. In 2018, Du Yun was named one of 38 Great Immigrants by the Carnegie Foundation, and in 2019 the Beijing Music Festival named her “Artist of the Year.” Sweet Land is now available for on-demand streaming. Please consider watching so the company can honor their contracts to pay their cast, musicians and the crew, due to the cancellation of half of the run. Thank you! I hope we are all doing well. https://www.facebook.com/1059549730/posts/10219045691467428/?sfnsn=mo

Born and raised in Ontario, Ben Wilkins moved to Montreal, Quebec, at the age of eighteen to study music at McGill University. He majored in Classical Trumpet and soaked up whatever he could regarding composition, arranging, singing, theory and jazz harmony – spending countless nights sneaking into the piano studios afterhours to write songs. Upon graduation, Wilkins received a scholarship to study Mandarin in China, and spent the better part of a year at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the Beijing Language and Culture University. In 2008, he returned to Montreal to perform locally and at colleges and clubs in the north-eastern U.S. Shortly after, he was approached by Pascal Shefteshy, an acclaimed engineer and producer working for famous producer Pierre Marchand (Sarah McLachlan, Rufus Wainwright) to record an album. They got to work, and then just as their limited budget was running out, Marchand announced that he was going to India for three months, leaving the door to his studio open and Wilkins and Shefteshy in the position to record an album without compromise. Wilkins' first independent release "Back Of My Head EP", was featured on NPR's All Things Considered and prominently featured on the NPR music website as “Piano Pop, Beautifully Arranged”. The single reached a top 50 position after only a few weeks of tracking on commercial radio and stayed in the charts for more than twenty weeks. His second single, “Through To You" was launched to radio stations across Quebec with impressive results, hitting top 10 adult contemporary, reaching 6th position for 5 consecutive weeks. Ben Wilkins debut self-titled album, signed to Milagro Records, was released in stores across Canada on October 18th, 2011. The album has since received rave reviews from Le Journal de Montreal, Le Soleil, Le Devoir, and was featured as a favorite by both Archambault, Renaud-Bray and HMV – and was in the top ten albums of 2012 according to Icon Fetch, and 98.5 FM - Montreal's most listened to radio station. Wilkins was scouted by S.L. Feldman & Associates and toured through Quebec and Ontario – headlining theaters and opening for artists such as David Usher, Eric Lapointe, Cowboy Junkie, Matthew Good, and Kim Mitchell. He was named in the top 5 favorite arts in the Chicoutimi Jazz and Blues Festival and his various live formats, be it a band of seven, a trio or solo, have been very well received by audiences and critics alike. Wilkins collaborated with James Di Salvio on The Garden, Bran Van 3000’s fourth album writing string and brass arrangements and singing lead on the track entitled “This Day”. He wrote vocal and string arrangements on 2010 Juno nominee Misstress Barbara's upcoming album, and has been writing arrangements, co-songwriting and producing for local Montreal artists consistently since 2010. Ben Wilkins was awarded the Emerging Artist Sound Recording Grant from FACTOR (The Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recording) for production and marketing of his sophomore album. He also received the Sound Production grant from Cirque du Soleil. He also received Canada Council of the Arts grant to individuals to study songwriting at the Songwriting School of Los Angeles where he studied under Rob Seals, Ryan Toby, and Phil Cody. His sophomore album entitled All From Hello, was well received by the press and radio in Canada and online media sources. Shortly after its release he was given a residency at The Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. He released three music videos in support of the album with the help of FACTOR (The Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recording) and had an album feature and video cameo by Bonnie Pointer of the Pointer Sisters. Ben Wilkins is currently based in Los Angeles and has produced music for Sophie Ann, Sofia Zorian, Brigitte Bertrand, Jupiter Deluxe Tube, Alan Roy Scott, Alicyn Packard, Chloe Agnew, Siena Pinney, Alex Thériault, among others. He has just released a collection of solo piano compositions in 2019 and is working on his third solo studio album.

In this lecture, award-winning composer Andrew Fordwill share insights into the creative process of composing, exploring the relationship between music and memory, reflecting on the role that music plays in our lives. Andrew Ford is a composer, writer and broadcaster who has won awards in each of those capacities, including the 2004 Paul Lowin Prize for his song cycle Learning to Howl, a 2010 Green Room Award for his opera Rembrandt's Wife and the 2012 Albert H Maggs Prize for his large ensemble piece, Rauha . He has been composer-in-residence for the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. In 2014 he was Poynter Fellow and Visiting Composer at Yale University and, in 2015, Visiting Lecturer at the Shanghai Conservatory. A former academic, Ford has written widely on all manner of music and published nine books, most recently The Memory of Music (Black Inc., 2017). He has written, presented and co-produced five radio series and, since 1995, presented The Music Show each weekend on ABC Radio National. Andrew is an ANU Coombs Creative Arts Fellow in 2018, and this lecture is one event in a program of featuring Andrew’s writing and music, proudly presented by the ANU School of Music. Light refreshments and a book signing will take place in the Foyer following the lecture. Image: Andrew Ford, courtesy Jim Rolon.

As part of Canada 150, a week of programmes marking the 150th anniversary of the founding of the nation, Michael Berkeley talks to Canadian novelist Madeleine Thien. Born in Vancouver, she is the daughter of Malaysian-Chinese immigrants to Canada and her writing explores the history of the Asian diaspora. She is the author a short story collection 'Simple Recipes' and the novels 'Certainty', 'Dogs at the Perimeter' and 'Do Not Say We Have Nothing' -about musicians studying Western classical music at the Shanghai Conservatory in the 1960s and about the legacy of the 1989 Tiananmen demonstrations. It was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Scotiabank Giller Prize 2016 and the Governor General's Award 2016. Her books and stories have been translated into 23 languages. Madeleine talks to Michael about the history of Western of classical music in China and its suppression during the Cultural Revolution. Countless instruments were destroyed, including more than 500 pianos at the Shanghai Conservatory. The bravery of its director, He Luting, a Debussy scholar, in resisting the Red Guards was an inspiration to her as she wrote the book and she chooses a piece of his music. She tells Michael how her love of music was reborn as she listened to Bach whilst writing Do Not Say We Have Nothing, and we hear Bach's music played by the Chinese pianist Zhu Xiao Mei. She also chooses music from fellow Canadians Glenn Gould and Leonard Cohen. Producer: Jane Greenwood A Loftus production for BBC Radio 3 CANADA 150: a week of programmes from across Canada, marking the 150th anniversary of the founding of the nation and exploring the range and diversity of Canadian music and arts.

Born and raised in Ontario, Ben Wilkins moved to Montreal, Quebec, at the age of eighteen to study music at McGill University. He majored in Classical Trumpet and soaked up whatever he could regarding composition, arranging, singing, theory and jazz harmony – spending countless nights sneaking into the piano studios afterhours to write songs. Upon graduation, Wilkins received a scholarship to study Mandarin in China, and spent the better part of a year at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the Beijing Language and Culture University. In 2008, he returned to Montreal to perform locally and at colleges and clubs in the north­eastern U.S. Shortly after, he was approached by Pascal Shefteshy, an acclaimed engineer and producer working for famous producer Pierre Marchand (Sarah McLachlan, Rufus Wainwright) to record an album. They got to work, and then just as their limited budget was running out, Marchand announced that he was going to India for three months, leaving the door to his studio open and Wilkins and Shefteshy in the position to record an album without compromise. Wilkins' first independent release "Back Of My Head EP", was featured on NPR's All Things Considered and prominently featured on the NPR music website as “Piano Pop, Beautifully Arranged”. Shortly after, the single reached a top 50 position after only a few weeks of tracking on commercial radio and stayed in the charts for more than twenty weeks. His second single, “Through To You" was launched to radio stations across Quebec with impressive results, hitting top 10 adult contemporary, reaching 6th position for 5 consecutive weeks. Ben Wilkins debut self­titled album, signed to Milagro Records, was released in stores across Canada on October 18th, 2011. The album has since received rave reviews from Le Journal de Montreal, Le Soleil, Le Devoir, and was featured as a favorite by both Archambault, Renaud­Bray and HMV – and was in the top ten albums of 2012 according to Icon Fetch, and 98.5 FM ­ Montreal's most listened to radio station. Wilkins was scouted by S.L. Feldman & Associates and toured through Quebec and Ontario – headlining theaters and opening for artists such as David Usher, Eric Lapointe, Cowboy Junkie, and Matthew Good. He was named in the top 5 favorite arts in the Chicoutimi Jazz and Blues Festival and his various live formats, be it a band of seven, a trio or solo, have been very well received by audiences and critics alike. Wilkins collaborated with James Di Salvio on The Garden, Bran Van 3000’s fourth album writing string and brass arrangements and singing lead on the track entitled “This Day”. He wrote vocal and string arrangements on 2010 Juno nominee Misstress Barbara's upcoming album, and has been writing arrangements, co-writing songs and producing for local Montreal artists consistently since 2010. Ben Wilkins was awarded the Emerging Artist Sound Recording Grant from FACTOR (The Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recording) for production and marketing of his sophomore album All From Hello. He also received the Sound Production grant from Cirque du Soleil as well as the grant to Individual Artists from the Canada Council of the Arts. Ben parted ways with Milagro records in 2014 and started his own label called Midnight Train Records. He has since been active in the Los Angeles music scene writing and producing with local artists. All From Hello was released on March 31st 2015.

Born and raised in Ontario, Ben Wilkins moved to Montreal, Quebec, at the age of eighteen to study music at McGill University. He majored in Classical Trumpet and soaked up whatever he could regarding composition, arranging, singing, theory and jazz harmony – spending countless nights sneaking into the piano studios afterhours to write songs. Upon graduation, Wilkins received a scholarship to study Mandarin in China, and spent the better part of a year at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the Beijing Language and Culture University. In 2008, he returned to Montreal to perform locally and at colleges and clubs in the north­eastern U.S. Shortly after, he was approached by Pascal Shefteshy, an acclaimed engineer and producer working for famous producer Pierre Marchand (Sarah McLachlan, Rufus Wainwright) to record an album. They got to work, and then just as their limited budget was running out, Marchand announced that he was going to India for three months, leaving the door to his studio open and Wilkins and Shefteshy in the position to record an album without compromise. Wilkins' first independent release "Back Of My Head EP", was featured on NPR's All Things Considered and prominently featured on the NPR music website as “Piano Pop, Beautifully Arranged”. Shortly after, the single reached a top 50 position after only a few weeks of tracking on commercial radio and stayed in the charts for more than twenty weeks. His second single, “Through To You" was launched to radio stations across Quebec with impressive results, hitting top 10 adult contemporary, reaching 6th position for 5 consecutive weeks. Ben Wilkins debut self­titled album, signed to Milagro Records, was released in stores across Canada on October 18th, 2011. The album has since received rave reviews from Le Journal de Montreal, Le Soleil, Le Devoir, and was featured as a favorite by both Archambault, Renaud­Bray and HMV – and was in the top ten albums of 2012 according to Icon Fetch, and 98.5 FM ­ Montreal's most listened to radio station. Wilkins was scouted by S.L. Feldman & Associates and toured through Quebec and Ontario – headlining theaters and opening for artists such as David Usher, Eric Lapointe, Cowboy Junkie, and Matthew Good. He was named in the top 5 favorite arts in the Chicoutimi Jazz and Blues Festival and his various live formats, be it a band of seven, a trio or solo, have been very well received by audiences and critics alike. Wilkins collaborated with James Di Salvio on The Garden, Bran Van 3000’s fourth album writing string and brass arrangements and singing lead on the track entitled “This Day”. He wrote vocal and string arrangements on 2010 Juno nominee Misstress Barbara's upcoming album, and has been writing arrangements, co-writing songs and producing for local Montreal artists consistently since 2010. Ben Wilkins was awarded the Emerging Artist Sound Recording Grant from FACTOR (The Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recording) for production and marketing of his sophomore album All From Hello. He also received the Sound Production grant from Cirque du Soleil as well as the grant to Individual Artists from the Canada Council of the Arts. Ben parted ways with Milagro records in 2014 and started his own label called Midnight Train Records. He has since been active in the Los Angeles music scene writing and producing with local artists. All From Hello was released on March 31st 2015.

The Relevant Tones team travels to Shanghai for New Music Week, a relatively new but impressive festival held by the prestigious conservatory of music. The final edition in this four part series features music of faculty composers at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Hosted by Seth Boustead Produced by Jesse McQuarters Zhu Shirui: Three Poetic Fantasias Ensemble Intercontemporain LV Huang: Reset Ensemble Offspring/Roland Peelman Wen Deqing: The Deep Tunnel Oratorio for the 70th anniversary of Victory of the Anti-Fascist War Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra & Shanghai Opera House Chorus; Shenyang, bass-baritone; Zheng Yao, tenor Ye Guohui: Echoes of Shanghai Shanghai Symphony Orchestra/Rabl; Mengla Huang, v.

The Relevant Tones team travels to Shanghai for New Music Week, a relatively new but impressive festival held by the prestigious Shanghai Conservatory of Music. This second in a four-part series features the resident composers and some of the students involved in the festival. Hosted by Seth Boustead Produced by Jesse McQuarters Chen Yi: Night Thoughts (excerpts) Members of the Shanghai Chamber Orchestra/Gottfried Rabl Chen Yi: Momentum Shanghai Chamber Orchestra/Gao Jian Jean-Patrick Besingrand: Interjections and Fragmentations Ensemble Offspring/Roland Peelman Geng Shiqi: Spring Rain of a Lotus Pond Ensemble Offspring/Roland Peelman Wu Fan: Jumping Lines and Surfaces Ensemble Offspring/Roland Peelman Beat Furrer: Gaspra (excerpt) Ensemble Recherche

We're featuring San Francisco Symphony Principal Double Bass and University of Michigan faculty member Scott Pingel on this week's show.  In addition to holding down the principal bass chair for the San Francisco Symphony, Scott taught for several years at the San Francisco Conservatory, and he served as Principal Bass of the Charleston Symphony prior to his appointment in San Francisco. This was really a great interview, and it was a pleasure to connect again with Scott (we played together for the Spoleto Festival over a decade ago).  You'll learn a lot about how Scott approaches practicing for auditions, his interesting path to becoming a bass player, and the instruments and bows on which he has spent the last several years performing. About Scott: Scott Pingel began playing the double bass at age 17 because of a strong interest in jazz, Latin, and classical music. In 2004, at age 29, he became the principal bass of the San Francisco Symphony and was named by the San Francisco Chronicle as one of the most prominent additions to the ensemble. Previously, Pingel served as principal bass of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, performed with the Metropolitan Opera, the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, and served as guest principal with the National Arts Center Orchestra in Canada. His solo performances with ensembles such as the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Academy Orchestra, and the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, and in recitals frequently consisting of his own arrangements, have been met with high critical acclaim. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with such luminaries as Yo-Yo Ma, Julia Fischer, Gilbert Kalish, Wu Han, Joseph Silverstein, Yefim Bronfman, and members of the esteemed Emerson, Miro, Pacifica, St. Lawrence, Danish, and Takacs Quartets. He can often be heard at the Music@Menlo and Music in the Vineyards festivals and on television and radio programs including NPR's Performance Today. Formerly active as a jazz musician and electric bassist, Pingel worked with greats including Michael Brecker, Geoff Keezer, and James Williams, and performed in venues from Birdland in New York to Fasching in Stockholm. Pingel has taught masterclasses at prestigious institutions such as the Curtis Institute of Music, The Julliard School, Colburn School, Boston University, Manhattan School of Music, Shanghai Conservatory, Beijing Central Conservatory, and the New World Symphony. Pingel's primary instructors were James Clute, Peter Lloyd, and Timothy Cobb. He earned a BM degree from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, a MM degree from the Manhattan School of Music, and spent two years as a fellow at the New World Symphony. Outside of music, Pingel spent many years studying the ancient Korean martial art of Hwa Rang Do, in which he holds a black belt. He was an instructor at the Madison Academy of Hwa Rang Do and founded the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Hwa Rang Do/Tae Soo Do Program, which continues to this day. Pingel lives in Ann Arbor with his wife, Iris, and their daughters, Hannah and Sophia. Vanhal complete performance with San Francisco Academy Orchestra Scott's "dueling banjos" cadenza video email: feedback@contrabassconversations.com phone (call-in number--we'll play your message on the show!): 415-952-5643

Libby Purves meets cellists Julian and Jiaxin Lloyd Webber; comedian Milton Jones; writer and director Gurinder Chadha and diplomat and poet, Dr Kevin Isaac. Gurinder Chadha OBE is a Kenyan-born writer and director who is best known for her film, Bend it Like Beckham. The comedy tells the story of a young Asian woman's ambition to play football while accommodating the demands of family and tradition. Alongside composer Howard Goodall, Gurinder has transformed the screenplay into a new West End musical. Bend It Like Beckham: The Musical is at the Phoenix Theatre in London from May 2015. Julian Lloyd Webber is an award-winning composer and cellist. His career began at 16 with a scholarship to the Royal College of Music. Later he studied in Geneva under renowned cellist, Pierre Fournier. His wife, Jiaxin Lloyd Webber, is a graduate of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and former principal cello of the Auckland Chamber Orchestra. Following the announcement of Andrew's retirement, the couple have created a new show reflecting on his life and career and featuring music from them both. Julian and Jiaxin Lloyd Webber are on tour in 2015. Dr Kevin Isaac is the High Commissioner for St Kitts and Nevis to the Court of St James. A published poet, he has written several volumes of verse - a talent he discovered thanks to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office after he won an FCO-sponsored poetry competition. His latest collection, Breakfast with my Fathers, was inspired by his father and father-in-law. Breakfast with my Fathers is self-published. Milton Jones is a comedian known for his surreal one-liners and deadpan delivery. He stars in the award-winning Radio 4 programme, Another Case of Milton Jones, and regularly appears on panel shows such as Mock the Week. He is touring his new stand-up show, The Temple of Daft, next year. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Lecture and Performance of Guqin by Dai Wei, Shanghai Conservatory of Music