郭文景 | Guo Wenjing

Guo is a doctoral supervisor of the Central Conservatory of Music. He was selected among the first group of the “Four Batches” of talent by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China.

He has composed several Chinese operas, symphonies, concertos, dance dramas, various vocal works, national instrumental works and chamber music works. Using western compositional techniques, he has contained Chinese musical contexts, rhythms and traditional culture in his works, all of which have conveyed his distinctive concern for humanity and reflections on reality and spread the unique Chinese mindset and insight to the rest of the world.  

Guo is the only Chinese composer who has never lived abroad but established an international reputation. (reviewed by New York Times). A Dutch director also produced a documentary named Inner Landscape for him.

SELECTED WORKS, AWARDS & TITLES

1984 -- His graduation work named Suspended Ancient Coffins on the Cliffs in Sichuan was premiered in the United States.

1987 -- He gave a solo concert of orchestral works in Beijing.

1988 -- His works Hard is the Road to Shu and Suspended Ancient Coffins on the Cliffs in Sichuan was performed by BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.

01/1994 -- His chamber opera Wolf Cab Village (created based on Lu Xun’s Chinese literary work Diary of a Madman), which played in Mandarin pronunciation, was debuted in the Netherlands.

1995 -- He gave a solo concert of his works at the Festival d’automne à Paris.

1996 -- He was commissioned by the Holland Festival to compose a chamber music entitled Oracle-bone Inscriptions.

05/1997 -- The Chinese Musicians Association (CMA) held a seminar on Guo’s works.

1999 -- He gave a solo concert at Edinburgh Music Festival.

2002 -- He gave a solo concert at the Festival of the Arts in Lincoln Center, the United States.

2003 -- He was awarded “Artist of the Year” in the 6th Beijing International Arts Festival.

2004 -- He gave a solo concert at the Torino Milano Festival Internazionale della Musica.

2006 -- The China Broadcasting National Orchestra held a special concert of Guo’s folk music works.

2008 -- He won the 6th China Golden Disk Awards for Special Music Composition, and created the unique music for the performance themed “movable-type painting” at Beijing Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.

2014 -- He composed the opera Camel Xiangzi.

09/2020 -- A concert of Guo’s works was held at Hangzhou Grand Theater.

02/10/2021 -- The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood, an instrumental concerto composed by Guo, was played by the Central National Traditional Orchestra in the newly composed thematic folk concert The Great Wall in the  National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA).