We are pleased to announce our latest addition to Chinese music in the UK  - the birth of The Silk String Quartet.

New in its form and style, unique in its instrumentation and presentation, the Silk String Quartet is a young and professional London based Chinese string instrumental group of top quality. Teamed up in spring 2006, the group is the first and the only Chinese String Quartet in the UK and Europe. The group combines traditional and modern, Chinese and Western music in a fresh and creative way. The four talented female virtuosi have all been trained from childhood, studied from BMus to PhD degree level in China and the West and performed diverse music genres worldwide, with many published CDs and international recognition in their own right.

The Silk String Quartet has already performed at the Royal Academy and the London Showcase, and been selected from some 600 entries to perform in Seville, Spain in October at the WOMEX 2006 World Music Expo-the world's largest international festival for world's music.

The Quartet performs new and diverse compositions and traditional repertories with their own interpretations. Their debut performance was well received in April 2006 at the Royal Academy of Arts during the exhibition: China - the Three Emperors (see picture).

The Musicians

Cheng Yu  pipa (4-stringed lute) and guqin (7-stringed zither)
Founder of the quartet, now teaches the pipa and guqin at SOAS, University of London; former soloist in the China Central Orchestra of Chinese Music, Beijing, and holds BMus., MMus. and PhD degrees. She toured Europe with the “world of strings” group in Autumn 2005 and won three major British awards in 2003-4 for recreating the lost Tang 8th century 5-stringed pipa with a new CD release in 2006.

Sun Zhuo  guzheng (21-stringed zither)
Gained BMus. and MMus from the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing and now a PhD candidate at the University of London. She is in demand as a guzheng player in China and London with two recently released CDs of traditional and new music. She has been invited to give a recital of contemporary and cross-cultural compositions at Sheffield University in May, 2006.

Qiu Zenghui   erhu and jinghu (2-stringed fiddles)
A specialist in Beijing Opera music in the UK, former lead musician on the jinghu and erhu in the National Beijing Opera Troupe and a graduate of the China National Beijing Opera School. She recorded music for the soundtrack of Zhang Yimou’s film Raise the Red Lantern and has performed at such venues as the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Birmingham Symphony Hall.

Zhou Yinyan  yangqin (hammered dulcimer)
Former member of the Beijing Plucked Strings Ensemble, gained a BMus. Honours degree in 2004 from the China Conservatory of Music. Performed on the stage when she was 8 and toured China, Hong Kong, Macao, Korea, France and the UK. Her talents brought her music to the 2002 Modern Music Festival in France, the 2003 Beijing International Music Festival and to many venues in Britain.