Interview by Kyle Macmillan
The guitar is one of the newest Western instruments to arrive in China. Xuefei Yang believes it entered the country only about 100 years ago, and it took decades more for it to gain a foothold among audiences and players.
“But just as everywhere else in the world,” she said, “the guitar is such a charming instrument, so a lot of people like the guitar.”
Xuefei Yang: A Groundbreaking Classical Guitarist Making Colorado Music Festival Debut
She should know. Yang is the first classical guitarist to earn a bachelor’s degree from China’s Central Conservatory of Music and first Chinese-born soloist on the instrument to build an international reputation.
The 48-year-old British resident will make her Colorado Music Festival debut July 27, joining Music Director Peter Oundjian and the festival orchestra in a performance of the most famous concerto for the guitar: Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez.
Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez: A Beloved Masterpiece
She should know. Yang is the first classical guitarist to earn a bachelor’s degree from China’s Central Conservatory of Music and the first Chinese-born soloist on the instrument to build an international reputation.
The 48-year-old British resident will make her Colorado Music Festival debut July 27, joining Music Director Peter Oundjian and the Festival orchestra in a performance of the most famous concerto for the guitar: Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez.
The 1939 piece is inspired by the lavish gardens at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez in Madrid, one of the official residences of the Spanish royal family that was built by King Philip II in the last half of the 16th century.
Yang, who recorded the concerto in 2010 with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and plays it regularly, never tires of the piece. “For me, that is the test of whether a work is great or not,” she said. “Because I find if I play a great piece of music, like [J.S.] Bach’s Chaconne, you never get bored of it. A great piece of art—you just dig in more. Every time I play it, I feel differently.”
The guitar does not have the same aural heft as the piano or even the violin. So, as Yang and most of her fellow guitarists regularly do, she will subtly amplify her performance in Boulder to make sure the instrument can be heard properly not just by the audience but also the other musicians onstage.
Yang’s Discovering the Guitar by Chance
The Beijing native didn’t choose to take guitar lessons as a child. She didn’t even know what a guitar was. Her parents wanted her to learn an instrument, and her music teacher in elementary school liked the instrument and organized a children’s guitar group.
She remembers when her father brought home a guitar from a local music store for her to play. “I was so curious,” she said. “I opened the box and it was the first time I saw a guitar. I plucked the strings, and I thought, ‘Oh, it sounds so nice.’ So, I liked it from the beginning.”
Yang joined the group when she was 7 and, two years later, she took part in a masterclass with an American guitarist who told her she showed promise. Another year later, she was the only child to attend and perform at the first international guitar festival in China, and she received abundant praise. “That’s kind of the first time I had this idea of being a concert guitarist,” she said.
From Beijing to London: A Rising Star’s Path
After earning her bachelor’s degree at the Central Conservatory, she chose not to follow the urging of her parents to go to the United States. Instead, she admired Europe with its long history of art and classical music and wanted to continue her studies there.
But rather than Spain, a country famously important to the development of classical guitar, especially in the 20th century with such masters as Andres Segovia, she wanted to go an English-speaking country, settling on Great Britain, because of its rich classical-music history It helped that she received an international scholarship to attend the Royal Academy of Music in London – the first guitarist to do so.
As Yang’s graduate studies were winding down, the then-25-year-old had no idea how to launch a professional career. Following the lead of her pianist roommate, she decided to send some letters to prospective artist managements in London. Before she could get around to it, the head of Askonas Holt, one of the largest such firms, attended one of her performances. “After the concert, I got signed, so I was very lucky,” she said.
International Tours and a Deep Connection to China
The guitarist has gone on to perform in some of the most prestigious concert venues in the world. Though she has continued to reside in the West, she makes frequent trips to China and has served as artistic director of the Changsha International Guitar Festival since 2015.
Yang has released 20 recordings, many of them on major labels such as EMI Classics and Decca. Coming out June 25 is Chapeau Satie, an album marking the 100th anniversary of the death of Erik Satie.
The individualist French composer is best known for miniature solo works for the piano with quirky names like Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes. “I always loved his music,” said Yang, who saw the centenary as an ideal opportunity to present “reimagined interpretations” of some of these works on guitar. “Because his music is very simple and meditative – not many notes – his works are very well suited to be played on the guitar,” she said.
Also included will be three of his Mélodies, songs written for café-concerts, with soprano Héloise Warner as the vocal soloist. Yang also commissioned Warner to compose a new song for the album using the poetry of Cécile Sauvage, a contemporary of Satie.
A New Voice for Classical Guitar
Yang is a big advocate of new music, frequently premiering works for the guitar, like Dreaming of My Hometown by famed Chinese-American composer Chen Yi. Yang premiered the concerto with the University of Nottingham Philharmonia in February 2024 and hopes to perform it more.
“If you play a Beethoven piece, that’s Beethoven’s voice about his time,” she said. “So, we need composers to write music that represents our voice and our lives.” That’s especially true for the classical guitar, which doesn’t have a large body of concerto repertoire like the piano or cello.
The creation of the Concierto de Aranjuez was sparked during a dinner in Santander, Spain, in September 1938 that included Rodrigo, guitarist Regino Saínz de la Maza and the Marqués de Bolarqué. During the evening, his companions urged the composer to write a guitar concerto and he agreed.
“Imagine if that didn’t happen,” Yang said. “I would not have the chance to play this fantastic piece in many concerts with different orchestras. So, I think we need to continue working on new repertoire.”
A Concerto That Reflects Our Time
This concerto, which marries elements of flamenco with the classical-music tradition, seems especially relevant now, when the Colorado Music Festival and other presenters are putting a greater emphasis than ever on inclusivity and multiculturalism.
The Colorado Music Festival hosts Xuefei Yang on Sunday, July 27.
