Feifei Yang
Feifei Yang (Simplified Chinese: 杨飞飞; Pinyin: Yáng Fēi Fēi; Traditional Chinese: 楊飛飛; Jyutping: Joeng4 Fei1 Fei1) is an award-winning musician, performer, and groundbreaking arts entrepreneur. Hailed as “The Chinese Huqin Girl Stepping into Hollywood” by Sinovision, she is a Huqin (Banhu and Erhu) performance expert and vocalist whose talents are revolutionizing the global music and entertainment scenes.
Feifei Yang has contributed her talents to notable venues and institutions including Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Barclays Center, the United Nations, Summer Stage, the New York Fashion Week, Consulate General of People’s Republic of China in New York, among several others. She has also served as a judge for the China Central Television’s China Youth Talent Show Contests; the Fifth Annual American Youth Talent and Art Contests, the most highly regarded professional arts contests among the Chinese and American Chinese communities; and the National Youth Music Competition in Liaoning Province, China.
Music career
Early Career (2003 - 2007)
Feifei Yang began her music training with the Huqin, the Chinese two-stringed fiddle, at the age of nine in northeast China. She was the only student studying the Banhu to be accepted to the Shenyang Conservatory of Music in 2003. Four years later, her combined achievements led her to earn the honor of Outstanding Graduate Student of all of Liaoning province’s colleges, and in 2007, she became the very first Masters recipient for Banhu in the Conservatory’s history.
Post-Conservatory Career (2007-2015)
Feifei was the first place winner of the AWZG Chinese Young Artists Talent Selection, and a 2013 finalist for “The Voice of China” TV singing competition, for which she won the distinction of “Extraordinary Contestant.” Additional merits include the Best Creativity Award winner in China Central Television’s “CCTV New Year's Gala” U.S. Talent Hunt. Along with her conservatory training, Feifei holds additional master's degrees in Arts and Cultural Management from the Pratt Institute and language education from Adelphi University. She is also a member of the Chinese Musician’s Association and Liaoning Traditional Chinese Orchestral Music Association.
In 2015, Feifei released Dance of the Strings, a self-composed EP featuring an original jazz Huqin piece for both the Erhu and Banhu, creating a rhythmic groove. The album also features three of her live classical Banhu performances, in collaboration with songwriters Shao-Yi Yan, Ying Zhang, and legendary Banhu player Mingyuan Liu. Currently, Feifei is working on her second album, a revolutionary combination of American pop and rock music with Huqin music.
Artistic and Cultural Exchange Achievements
Coupled with her love for the performing arts is Feifei’s passion for building bridges between China and diverse cultures and art forms. She is the founder of FJ Music Fusion, New York’s first Chinese fusion band that brings China's traditional music to contemporary audiences through modern integrations of classical pieces and other musical genres. Feifei’s story was filmed by Sohu TV and the Ividea Cultural Production Company for the 2014 documentary series Fly Across America.
Feifei also pursues this artistic and cultural bridge through academic research. In 2015, she collaborated with Mr. Cosmo Shoumain Xue to develop a modern electronic version of the Erhu, enabling performers to play contemporary music of professional standards while retaining the rich heritage of the thousand year-old instrument. Under the advisement of Professor HyukJae Henry Yoo at the Pratt Institute in New York, Feifei contributed a deep understanding of the essence and heritage of the Erhu, which was essential to its research, creation, and execution. Her contributions led the Pratt Institute to retain Feifei as a post-graduate researcher for its Digital Arts and Humanities Research Center.
Discography
Dance of the Strings (2015)