Biography

Composer and pianist Gao Ping was born in the city of Chengdu in the Sichuan Province of China. He grew up at the time when China was undergoing its transformation from a collective to a market economy, this transitional phase between old and new leaving traces that would later be evident in his music. His father, Gao Wei-jie, is a well-known composer and teacher who formed the first new music society in China, the Society for Exploration of New Music, in 1983. The Beijing-based musicologist Li Xi-An has referred to Gao Ping as a representative member of the “sixth generation composers”, following “the 5th Generation” of artsts such as Tan Dun, and the filmmaker Zhang Yimo.

Gao Ping’s music has met success in Europe, Asia, Russia, across the Americas, New Zealand, and Australia. In demand as a composer and pianist, he has received commissions and performances from the Zurich-based Ensemble Pyramide, pianist Frederic Rzewski, Ursula Oppens, Michael Houstoun, James Tocco, violinist Arnold Steinhardt, the New Zealand String Quartet, The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, and the Taiwan National Chinese Orchestra. His compositions have appeared on venues such as the Aspen Music Festival, the Gaudeamus International Music Week in Amsterdam, Ravinia Music Festival, Asia/Pacific Music Festival in Wellington (2007), the the Cincinnati MusicX Festival, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in Detroit, and the Beijing-Modern International Music Festival.

Gao Ping’s chamber music on Naxos label was critically acclaimed and was selected by The Listener as 2006’s Top 10. Gao Ping’s Piano Concerto was premiered in 2008 by the composer as the soloist with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Mr. Kenneth Young. The work was met with enthusiastic critical acclaim and was called “a major concerto” by The Listener. Night Alley for solo piano was performed as the obligatory work for the 4th China International Piano Competition in 2007. Dr. Gao is a composition lecturer in the School of Music at the Canterbury University in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Selected Works

• Works (3)