Flautist to pipe in Chinese New Year

Internationally acclaimed flautist Guo Yue

As the Chinese New Year dawns today, there is a plethora of related cultural events taking place around Liverpool and the region. The internationally acclaimed flautist Guo Yue, whose music enhanced films like The Last Emperor and The Killing Fields, arrives with his charming bamboo flutes on Friday.

His is the first in a series of Chinese related concerts in the Philharmonic Hall’s Rodewald Suite as part of its After Eight programme. He is followed by cellist Semay Wu and singer Seaming To who appear with their amazing electronic effects in a couple of weeks, followed by The Silk String Quartet at the end of the month.

Guo was born in Beijing, but left China in 1982 to study at the Guildhall School of Music. With his brother Guo Yi, he has performed at international festivals and concerts, including The World of Music, Arts and Dance.

He first performed his bamboo flutes concerto My Peking Alley with the BBC Concert Orchestra at Womad almost 10 years ago, and also performed the soundtrack for the Channel Four television documentary Beyond the Clouds.

Guo commented: “In ancient Chinese philosophy, life is about four things: sadness, happiness, being apart and being together. Looking back on my childhood as the youngest son of a violinist, growing up in a large musical family in the alleys (hutongs) of Beijing, I would agree.”

The Rodewald concert is part of an exciting six-month programme of events promoted through the China Now banner to raise the profile of China in Britain in 2008. But the first Year of the Rat event is surely the launch of a major Chinese art exhibition at The Egg Cafe venue in Newington tonight. It features the works of five Chinese artists, and has been coordinated by well-known painter and calligrapher Xia Lu, who is based in Liverpool. Along with other artists from China, she is showing 57 different pieces.

* GUO YUE – Rodewald Box Office 0151 709 3789/Chinese Art Exhibition: www.eggspace.org

Feb 7 2008 by Lew Baxter, Liverpool Daily Post