From Barbarian Gate-Crasher to Aristocratic Emblem, a Lecture and Recital by Sun Hui
From Barbarian Gate-Crasher to Aristocratic Emblem, a Lecture and Recital by Sun Hui
June 1 10:00am
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The erhu is a two-stringed bowed musical instrument or spike fiddle that is sometimes known in the Western world as the Chinese violin or a Chinese two-stringed fiddle that is about a thousand years older than the violin. It is the most popular of the Chinese huqin family of bowed string instruments. Perhaps no musical instrument is more evocative of China than the erhu even though its origins most likely developed beyond the borders of Chinese culture. It is historically known as the barbarian’s fiddle. Sun Hui will perform playing the instrument, and she will discuss the historical context for the instrument’s role in Chinese classical music composition, poetry, and philosophy.
Excellence Prize Winner of the National Erhu Competition in Taiwan, Sun Hui has performed throughout Europe and the Americas in many prestigious music venues and in Taiwan’s National Concert Hall and the Taiwan National Opera. She has performed as a solo artist in collaboration with many major orchestras, including the Taipei Symphony Orchestra and the National Chinese Opera Company. Formerly she taught composition, musicology, and music theory at the College Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati.
Sun Hui currently resides in the Hawaiian Islands and has developed a unique style combining the Chinese elements of the erhu with traditional Hawaiian music winning her a recent Na Hoku Hanohano Award from the Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts. She holds a B.A. in Erhu Performance from the Chinese Culture University, Taiwan, a M.A. in Music Composition and a Ph.D. in Cognitive Ethnomusicology from the Ohio State University. Her research interests include the cross-cultural study of pitch processing in music, and speech and rhythm processing in vocal and instrumental music.