Distinguished Lecture Series: Min Xiao-Fen “Echoes of Revolution and Jazz”
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“Echoes of Revolution and Jazz: My Journey through Cultures – Recounting my experiences as a young girl during the Cultural Revolution, where I encountered reformed Beijing Opera and folk songs dedicated to the workers. Following my move to the US, I discovered new inspiration, this time from Thelonious Monk”
— Min Xiao-Fen
About Min Xiao-Fen:
Few artists have done more to both honor and reinvent the 2000-year history of the pipa than soloist, vocalist, and composer Min Xiao-Fen. Classically trained in her native China, she served as a principal pipa soloist at Nanjing Traditional Music Orchestra and was an in-demand interpreter of traditional music before relocating to the United States and forging a new path for her instrument alongside many of the leading lights in modern jazz, free improvisation, experimental and contemporary classical music. NPR Weekend Edition lauded Ms. Min as “one of the world’s greatest virtuosos,” and JazzTimes hailed her as “a pioneer in integrating her ancient instrument with modern jazz and improvised music.” The New York Times raved that her singular work “has traversed a sweeping musical odyssey.”
Min recently received a prestigious commission from the Smithsonian Institution to compose soundtracks for two Chinese historical silent films two Chinese silent films “Romance of the Fruit Peddler” and “Romance of the Western Chamber” from the 1920s, (premiered on May 6, 2023 at Freer Gallery of Art in DC). Other notable works include the 2021 album White Lotus, her original score to the 1934 silent film The Goddess, the deeply personal 2017 release Mao, Monk and Me, which explores the music of Thelonious Monk, on From Harlem to Shanghai and Back, Min’s Blue Pipa Trio commingles trumpeter Buck Clayton’s Kansas City swing with the music of Li Jinhui, the “Father of Chinese popular music” and 2012 Dim Sum spotlights the stunning scope of her compositions. Min was a curator at The Stone and the Museum of Chinese in America in New York. She also served as artist-in-residence with the Sound of Dragon Society for the Vancouver International Jazz Festival and was a guiding artist for the Creative Music Studio and the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Big Ears Festival has invited Min Xiao-Fen to perform her new film soundtracks next March. Min recently received a prestigious commission from the Smithsonian Institution to compose soundtracks for two Chinese historical silent films two Chinese silent films “Romance of the Fruit Peddler” and “Romance of the Western Chamber” from the 1920s, (premiered on May 6, 2023 at Freer Gallery of Art in DC). Other notable works include the 2021 album White Lotus, her original score to the 1934 silent film The Goddess, the deeply personal 2017 release Mao, Monk and Me, which explores the music of Thelonious Monk, on From Harlem to Shanghai and Back, Min’s Blue Pipa Trio commingles trumpeter Buck Clayton’s Kansas City swing with the music of Li Jinhui, the “Father of Chinese popular music” and 2012 Dim Sum spotlights the stunning scope of her compositions. Min was a curator at The Stone and the Museum of Chinese in America in New York. She also served as artist-in-residence with the Sound of Dragon Society for the Vancouver International Jazz Festival and was a guiding artist for the Creative Music Studio and the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Big Ears Festival has invited Min Xiao-Fen to perform her new film soundtracks next March. www.minbluepipa.com
