Department of Music,
School of Arts
& College of Humanities
Cheng Yu
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Key information
Key information
- Department
- Department of Music, School of Arts & College of Humanities
Biography
Cheng Lu was a pipa lute soloist from China’s National Orchestra before relocating to the UK, and obtained a PhD in Ethnomusicology (2004, SOAS).
Cheng Lu has published over a dozen CDs and performed with Lang Lang, Damon Albarn, Matthew Barley, the BBC and London Symphony orchestras amongst others and performed in over 30 countries including WOMAX and WOMAD (6 times) festivals. She organised, directed and obtained funding for 21 summer schools, over 100 Yaji music gatherings and concerts at SOAS and 3 international Chinese Music festivals (with attendees from 14 countries) including conferences with SOAS.
Cheng Lu's Arts Council, AHRC and Woman in Music funded project to revive and commission new music for the ‘5-stringed pipa’ is evidence of her ongoing commitment to research, and her recent project ‘Lutes of the Silk Road’ which premiered at SOAS in summer 2024 demonstrates her passion for musical development and innovation.
She has a longstanding record of developing Chinese music at SOAS, forging connections between SOAS and the wider community and contributing to SOAS as a distinctive contributor to the notion of ‘Global Britain’. She has taught pipa lute and guqin zither to SOAS students and overseen their progress to examination.
As Professor of Practice, Cheng Lu's aim is to continue her long-standing collaboration with the SOAS music department in the provision of an annual Chinese music festival and a bi-monthly Yaji (refined gathering) with the London Youlan Qin Society. There are plans for a SOAS Saturday school in Chinese music, with participants drawn from the wider community in London as well as the SOAS student body, comprising a wide range of ages and ethnicities.
