Musical Memories - Gao Hong

Gao Hong, a master of the pear-shaped lute, the pipa, began her career as a professional musician at age 12. She graduated from China’s premier music school, the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where she studied with the great pipa master Lin Shicheng. In China and the US Gao has received numerous top awards and honors including becoming the first musician in any genre to win five McKnight Artist Fellowships for Performing Musicians. In 2018 Gao became the first Chinese musician to win a Sally Award from the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. Gao has performed throughout Europe, Australia, Argentina, Japan, Hong Kong, China and the US in solo concerts and with symphony orchestras, jazz musicians and musicians from other cultures. Her performances have included those at the Lincoln Center Festival, Carnegie Hall, the San Francisco Jazz Festival, the International Festival of Perth, Australia and the Festival de Teatro d’Europa in Milan, Italy.

Since moving to the United States in the mid-1990s, Gao Hong has earned a reputation as a tireless and enthusiastic educator. She founded the Hua Yin Children’s Chinese Music Ensemble in the basement of her home. Soon the Ensemble found a new home at the MacPhail Center for the Arts in Minneapolis. She has taught at MacPhail Center for the Arts and Metropolitan State University in Minnesota and has appeared as a guest lecturer at numerous colleges and universities throughout the country. In 2016, Gao Hong completed the first pipa method book ever written in English and had it published by Hal Leonard. She is currently teaching Chinese music instruments and directing a Chinese Music Ensemble at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. She is Guest Professor at the Central Conservatory of Music, China Conservatory of Music, Tianjin Conservatory of Music and Hebei Vocational Arts College. She is a member of the Board of Directors at the American Composers Forum and Minnesota Citizens for the Arts. Gao Hong is also a founding member of the professional Chinese music ensembles The Spirit of Nature and The Beijing Trio.