Betti Xiang — A First Chinese Erhu Musician had performed "The Butterfly Lovers Concerts " with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David Alan Miller in 2006 as a part of Yo-Yo Ma and his Silk Road Project in Chicago. "The Chinese erhu virtuosa Betti Xiang was the astonishing soloist with an agility, subtlety and lyrical grace any opera singer would envy." Chicago Tribune commended.
The debut concert marks Betti's great achievement of "merging Western and Eastern musical elements with a naïveté and sophistication that make the three-part work so sweetly appealing". In 2007, New York Albany Symphony Orchestra presented Betti to the Gala Concert. The critique describes that "Xiang was marvelous and played with great passion. The crowd loved it". Soon after, the Florida Symphony Orchestra scheduled Betti Xiang to perform "The Butterfly Lovers Concerto" at Tampa Bay, Florida in 2008.
As a new milestone, Betti Xiang shall perform the famous "Crouching Tiger Concert" with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra in 2010 and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra in 2011. Betti Xiang has dedicated herself as a pioneer and survivor playing the Chinese erhu with symphony orchestras.
In 1996, Betti embarked on her journey to establish a distinguished music career in America. After having been invited to perform at such distinctive venues in the Chicago area, including the Art Institute, Cultural Center, Symphony Center, and Ravinia Festival; Betti was immediately recognized as an erhu virtuoso. As such, she was invited to perform at the Fullerton Hall, Kimmel Center, Lincoln Center, Martin Theater, Palace Theatre, Smithsonian Institutes, and has even been invited to perform on television and radio. Other groups that Betti has performed with include the Amelia Piano Trio, Cube Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, Lincoln String Quartet, Newberry Consort Early Music Ensemble and Silk Road Ensemble.
In 2005, Betti Xiang appeared at the inauguration of Chicago’s Millennium Park as guest artist, performing Tan Dun's erhu concerto “Crouching Tiger” with the Chicago Grant Park Orchestra. Betti has also joined the Columbia College Chicago’s annual project "Global Screen Composition". She has given erhu performances to the Illinois of Benedictine University, DePaul University, Dominican University, Wheaton College, Northeastern University, Northwestern University, St. Xavier University, Illinois State University, University of Chicago, Indiana University Purdue University, Michigan University, Rhode Island School of Design, St. Petersburg College, and Queens College of New York City.
Betti Xiang was born in Shanghai, China. Her father Xiang Zuying, a renowned erhu master introduced her to the erhu at a very young age. Mr. Xiang distinguished as a soloist for the Shanghai National Orchestra and as an erhu professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in China. Betti first played for a public audience in 1978. In 1981, she joined the Shanghai National Orchestra, where she impressed audiences in France, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan, performing premieres with great Chinese composers including Jin Fuzai, Lu Pei and Zhu Jianer. Later in 1988, Betti received the coveted Young Artists Award in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai for Outstanding Erhu Solo Artist. Betti Xiang gave the Erhu Solo Concert with the Shanghai Broadcast Philharmonic. In 1995, Betti gave her final performance in China at the Shanghai "Lan-Xing" Theater.
Throughout the years, Betti has formed alliances and continues to perform many new compositions made by composers Bright Sheng, Bruce Saylor, Chen Yi, Conrad Tao, Eliza Browns, Huang Ruo, Li Xinyan, Pamela Chen, Patricia Morehead, Victoria Bond and Yang Yong. In 2006, the Shanghai Recording Company recorded Betti Xiang’s Solo Erhu CD "Tunes of the Countryside" in China. In 2011, the Portuguese music composer Luís Tinoco, will compose "Erhu and Orchestra" for Albany Symphony Orchestra and Betti Xiang. Mr. Miller is the artist director and music conductor in the "World Beat Series Festival " in New York .
Short Bio
Already as acclaimed erhu virtuoso on her native China, Betti Xiang has built a distinguished career performing throughout the United States. In 2006, Xiang performed "Butterfly Lovers Concerto" with Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of David Alan Miller. 2007, she performed with Albany Symphony Orchestra in New York. February, 2009, she performed with Florida Symphony Orchestra in Florida. Betti has been invited to perform at such distinctive venues as the Ravinia International Music Festival, Lincoln Center, Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Smithsonian Institute, and on National Public Radio and Chicago’s WFMT. Xiang performs with Yo-Yo Ma as a member of the Silk Road Ensemble and has collaborated with Amelia Piano Trio, Lincoln String Quartet, Newberry Consort early music ensemble, and Cube Contemporary Chamber Ensemble. In 2005, she performed Tan Dun’s Orchestra and Erhu "Crouching Tiger" for the inauguration of Chicago’s Millennium Park with Chicago Grant Park Orchestra.
Xiang, a native of Shanghai, China, studied erhu with her father, Xiang Zuying, a renowned erhu master and soloist with Shanghai National Orchestra and professor at Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Xiang’s public debut as an erhu soloist was with Shanghai National Orchestra’s tour of France, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. in 1981, debuting works by noted Chinese composer Zhu Jianer, Jin Fuzai, and Lu Pei. In 1986, she received the coveted Young Artists Award for outstanding soloist in both Cities Shanghai and Beijing, China.
Over the last twenty years, she has premiered works by such renowned composers as Bruce Saylor, Conrad Tao, Huang Ruo, Victoria Bond, Patricia Morehead, Bright Sheng and Tan Dun. In July 2006, Xiang recorded a solo CD of her last father’s music, Tune of Countryside.
click here to download attached bio of the Silk Road Project
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