China’s first classical guitar star Xuefei Yang talks about her musical journey and her new show
Back in 2021, we tentatively programmed the first post-Covid Lichfield Festival, hopeful that audiences would want to come! We needn’t have worried. The escapism of music, drama and dance was what everyone craved, and one of the highlights of that year was the exuberant and colourful performance of Chinese classical guitarist Xuefei Yang and Spanish flamenco dancer Maria Vega who lit up the Lichfield Cathedral stage.
Now the pair are back with a brand new programme Silk and Fire: Bridging Cultures along the Silk Road from the Orient to Iberia (Lichfield Cathedral, 16 July). Xuefei told us all about it, and her own incredible journey as a pioneering Chinese guitarist.
Emerging from post-Cultural Revolution China, Xuefei became the first internationally-recognised Chinese guitarist on the world stage. In her extraordinary career, she’s played in more than 50 countries with the world’s leading orchestras and collaborative partners, and has released 25 superb recordings. Now based in the UK, her rise to the top has included being named by Classic FM as one of the 100 top classical musicians of our time.
But her journey was far from straightforward. “As a lively, rather boisterous child, my parents hoped that learning an instrument might help channel my energy into something more focussed,” she says. “This was shortly after the Cultural Revolution, and Western instruments had not yet fully re-established themselves in China. But my teacher had a deep love for the guitar and had gathered a small, informal group of students, quite possibly one of the very first of its kind in the country at that time.”
From there she became the first guitarist in China (that’s the whole of China!) to study at a music school. “At that time, no music school in China had an established guitar department, so there was no clear path to follow. I was admitted as an ‘unofficial’ student, which meant there was no formal qualification at the end of my studies, and my parents had to make a significant financial commitment to support this unconventional choice. The school brought in my existing guitar teacher specifically for me.”
By the time she left, things were changing, “The administration caught up with what was happening on the ground, and a formal guitar department was established. I was then able to graduate with an official qualification – the first Bachelor of Music degree in China awarded to a guitarist.”
The classical guitar is inextricably linked with Spain and Xuefei has embraced that heritage. At 10, she was gifted a guitar by the Spanish Ambassador in China and subsequently made her debut in Madrid, attended by the composer of the world’s most famous guitar concerto, Joaquín Rodrigo. Totally at home in this repertoire The New York Times said: “Yang’s guitar sings as if she had grown up in the shaded courtyards of Andalusia.”
The collaboration with flamenco dancer Maria Vega, which came about through a friend, enabled Xuefei to bring a visual element to a project that would celebrate that rich music and dance tradition.
Their Lichfield Festival show brings both of their cultures together: “The Spanish works bring rhythmic vitality and emotional intensity, while the Chinese pieces offer a contrasting sense of lyricism and elegance, often inspired by nature and ancient stories. Along the way, there are moments where these traditions meet and intertwine, revealing unexpected connections.”
Xuefei’s career has already exceeded her own dreams but has also paved the way for those who follow. “People sometimes describe me as a musical pioneer, and I understand why. I chose a path that didn’t yet exist in my country, and in a small way, I helped to create it.”
Xuefei Yang and Maria Vega are at Lichfield Cathedral on Thu 16 July (7.30pm)
