On Contemporary Composition

Gastvortrag Qin Wenchen

The Influence of Traditional Chinese Music on My Composition: Through the analysis of specific works, the composer explains the influence of traditional Chinese music on his composition as well as his exploration in composition concept, technology and artistic interest in recent years. The lecture will also introduce the development of contemporary music in China.

Composer and educator Qin Wenchen is presently the Vice President of the Central Conservatory of Music, where he holds professorship of the Composition Department. He possesses one of the most distinguished positions in China's current music scene. With a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Commission (DAAD), he studied with Nicholas A. Huber in Essen, Germany, from 1998 to 2001. Qin has received commissions for numerous international music organizations, including the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Warsaw Autumn, Bayrischer Rundfunk, and Shanghai Spring International Music Festival. His works have been widely performed by various major orchestras and music ensembles throughout Asia, Europe, and overseas, including Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Nieuw Ensemble Holland, Ensemble Phoenix Basel, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Contemporary Music Ensemble Korea (CMEK), and Sinfonia Varsoviain Poland. His creative outputs have been broadcasted on major radio stations in Germany, France and Switzerland, including Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), Radio France, Swiss Radio, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) and ORF-Radio. Qin is the recipient of seven international awards and his music is published exclusively by Sikorski Musikverlag Germany. His major compositions: More than 20 orchestral works including Yin Ji (2001) and Pilgrimage in May (2004); The Nature's Dialogue (2010); suona concerto Calling for Phoenix (1996/2010), violin concerto The Border of Mountains (2012), Echo from the Other Shore (2015) and more than 40 chamber music works including Lonely Song (1990/2015), He-Yi (1998/1999), Five Songs on the Horizon (2005), The Sun Shadow (1987-) series and Sounds that Awake Memories (2006-) series, as well as Towards a Far Place - 30 pieces of music for Chinese instruments (2010/2011).