"Gao Ping is one of a new generation that is breathing new life into the classical tradition. An evening with Gao Ping's music is a true adventure!"

Frederic Rzewski

(Click here for biography in Chinese).

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. His mother is Luo Liang-Lian, a singer and teacher.

The Beijing-based musicologist Li Xi-An has referred to Gao Ping as a representative member of the “sixth generation composers”. This group of artists follows the fifth generation which includes such figures as the film makers Zhang Yi-Mo and Chen Kai-Ge and the composers, Tan Dun and Qu Xiao-Song. The members of the sixth generation grew up in the 1970s and 1980s and share a sensibility that embraces post-modern aesthetics. This group also includes film makers such as Jia Zhang-ke.

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, Frederic Chiu, Michael Houstoun, James Tocco, violinist Arnold Steinhardt, Rieko Suzuki, the New Zealand String Quartet, The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, Cincinnati Conservatory Philharmonia, 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 Amati Music Festival in New York, 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 described by a German critic as “music which wants to be heard with ears of a child, full of wonder and amazement…. deep and vulnerable.” It was among the Top Ten Best Classical Records selected by “the Listener” in 2006. He was a composer-in-residence at the MacDowell Artist Colony and the first prize winner in the Auros Composition Competition (2004) in Boston.

Gao Ping’s Piano Concerto was premiered recently 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.

As a pianist, Gao Ping collaborated with living composers such as George Crumb, Frederic Rzewki, Jack Body, and Qu Xiao-Song. His concerts often feature improvisations which composer Jack Body described as “astounding.” The Listener (NZ) called him “the man with 1001 tone colors.” Another New Zealand critic described his performance as “spellbinding” and “magical.” The People’s Music has called Gao’s recital “Sensational”. Gao Ping has recorded for the Naxos label, Waiteata Label of New Zealand, and the Starling Label.

He made his conducting debut in the Asia/Pacific Music Festival in Wellington, Feb, 2007, directing the Contemporary Music Ensemble Korea in Shen Na-Lin’s chamber opera “Fatal Desire”.

Since 2004, Dr. Gao has been a composition lecturer in the School of Music at the Canterbury University in Christchurch, New Zealand. Gao Ping has worked with musicians such as Joel Hoffman, Frederic Rzewski, James Tocco, Zhou Guang-Ren, and his father Gao Weijie.