You could probably count on two hands the number of works composed for classical guitar and Chinese guzheng and chances are several of them were commissioned by the Tucson husband-wife Duo Chinoiserie.
In April, the pair โ guitarist Bin Hu and guzheng player Jing Xia โ released their debut album โChinoiserie: Building New Musical Bridgesโ that combines several commissioned works including by Welsh guitarist and composer Steven Goss and Brazilian classical music great Sergio Assad with new arrangements for guitar and guzheng of works by Granados, de Falla and Debussy.
โWhat is special about this album is that we have commissioned several new pieces,โ said Hu, who earned his doctorate degree in classical guitar from the University of Arizona, where his wife is working on her Ph.D. in ethnomusicology and public health.
The couple will give Tucson a taste of the album when they return to the St. Andrewโs Bach Society series on Sunday, June 26, three years after their series debut.
The couple commissioned Assad to write a work based on the story of the Chinese warrior Mulan and Japanese composer Yusuke Nakanishi to write a three-movement festive motif. The French composer Mathias Duplessy composed a two-movement work about the Chinese deity Zhong Kui, who vanquished ghosts and evil beings.
Duo Chinoiserie will perform a couple of works off the album on Sunday including Assadโs โMulanโ and Duplessyโs โZhong Kuiโs Regretsโ and โZhong Kuiโs Journey.โ They also will likely perform solo works drawing from their solo albums โ Huโs โCiacconaโ is a collection of guitar transcriptions of Bachโs violin works; Xiaโs โWater Lotusโ is a half dozen guzheng solo pieces.
Hu and Xia met at the UA when Xia performed a guzheng recital.
โWhen I saw her the first time performing, I was totally mesmerized as was everyone sitting in the audience,โ Hu recalled. โI thought why not try to play with her. And she was interested, too, to explore new forms of collaboration, especially collaborating with non-traditional Chinese instruments.โ
The couple, who married in 2017 and have a 4-year-old daughter, played their first duo concert at Centennial Hall in February 2017.
โ... I see more this instrument as a cultural connection between me and my heritage and I would like to share it with people who are interested in the music and the guzheng,โ Xia said. โI hope I can make a bridge for people to understand the music.โ
This will be Duo Chinoiserieโs second recital with the popular summer concert series, curated by Bach Societyโs longtime director Benjamin Nisbet.
โI was so blown away by them (in 2019) that I was already considering when I could bring them back,โ Nisbet said.
Earlier this year, when he learned the couple was releasing their debut album, he asked Hu to set aside the June date to premiere the project.
Sundayโs concert begins at 2 p.m. at Grace St. Paulโs Episcopal Church, 2331 E. Adams St. Tickets are $25 reserved seats, $15 for general admission and $10 for students through standrewsbach.org or at the door.
