Biography (read more)
Xuefei Yang (born 15 March 1977 in Beijing) is a Chinese classical guitarist. She began playing guitar at age seven, at a time when Western instruments were still scarce in China following the Cultural Revolution, and studied under Chen Zhi before making her public debut at ten at the First China International Guitar Festival. She became the first guitarist admitted to a music school in China, earning a degree from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, before moving to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music with Michael Lewin and John Mills on a scholarship from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. She signed to EMI Classics in 2006, becoming one of the first Chinese classical musicians on a major international label.
Yang is recognized as the first internationally acclaimed classical guitarist from China, credited with helping establish the instrument’s standing there and with building bridges between Chinese and Western repertoire through new arrangements and commissions. Classic FM has named her among its “100 Top Classical Musicians” and BBC Music Magazine ranked her among its “Top Six Guitarists of the Century,” and she has performed in more than fifty countries, including a landmark concert at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing before Chinese and British heads of state. Her recordings and international touring career continue to expand the classical guitar’s audience across both Western and Chinese concert traditions.
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