Artist description Mei Han is a rare blend of performer and scholar, specializing in the Chinese zheng (zither), the parent instrument of the Asian long zither family. Recognized internationally as one of the world's leading virtuosi and authorities on the zheng, Mei's career spans Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. Mei has recently become known for her abilities as an exceptional improviser and innovater on the zheng. Mei presents music deeply rooted in over two thousand years of Chinese culture, combined with traditional and groundbreaking contemporary works that redefine the zheng as a serious instrument of expression for the international concert stage.

Artist History Mei began playing the zheng at ten years of age, advancing rapidly to study with a number of the most famous zheng masters in China, including Zhang Yan, and Gao Zi Cheng. She was a featured soloist for over ten years with the prestigious Beijing Zhan You Ensemble, considered the premiere ensemble of its type in China. Her performances have been broadcast on national radio throughout China and are included in numerous records and CDs. Mei has often fulfilled the role as a musical ambassador with lectures and performances for the United Nations Development Program, the Diplomatic Society of the British Commonwealth, the Embassies of Canada, United States, Brazil and Kenya, and for a number of international schools in China. Now residing in Vancouver, Canada, Mei is active as a solo performer as well as with various ensembles. She recently performed to excellent reviews at the Vancouver New Music Festival, will be premierring the first original zheng concerto in Beijing in 2003. Other solo concerts include performances in Leiden, Seattle and Durban. She has duo with composer and multi-instrumentalist Randy Raine-Reusch, exploring unique combinations of instruments in a contemporary experimental aesthetic that parallels ancient Chinese musical traditions. They have performed together at the WOMAD Festival Singapore, the Rainforest World Music Festival in Malaysia and the Vancouver International Jazz Festival. They have presented concerts in Prague, at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts in Vancouver, and most recently in Tokyo, Japan. Mei also tours nationally with the Orchid Ensemble, which combines both Western and Chinese instruments performing traditional Chinese and contemporary western repertoire. Mei is an active memberr of the Crossing Borders Ensemble, comprised of some of Vancouver's top improvisors. Mei is often a guest of groups performing both traditional and contemporary music from different cultures, and actively continues to perform traditional Chinese music as a soloist. Mei holds two Masters degrees in ethnomusicology, the first from the Musical Research Institute of the Chinese Arts Academy in Beijing (1995), considered internationally the most prestigious institute for Chinese music studies; and the second from the University of British Columbia (2000). Mei wrote the zheng entry for the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, which is the premiere reference book in the world on music. She has also published more than ten articles, and translations on Chinese instrumental and Minority music in prominent Chinese and Taiwanese music journals. She was the teaching assistant for the ethnomusicology program, and the zheng instructor at UBCˇ

Group Members Mei Han - zheng

Instruments zheng, liu qin

Albums Distant Wind

Press Reviews Vancouver New Music Festival, 2002 Part of the mandate of Vancouver New Music's Eat Me festival, billed as "a feast of pan- Asian sonic delicacies" was to present music that mixes the latest technical and aesthetic advances with the musical and meditative heritage of various Asian cultures. None of its performers were more successful than Vancouver's Mei Han, whose Thursday (October 24) program at the Scotiabank Dance Centre included both an ancient tribute to the beauties of spring and an equally gorgeous but more technological look at some of the materials used in Asian instrument making. Huan Yi's Three Variations on the Themeof Plum Blossoms was written sometime between AD 265 and 420, and it's typical of the Taoist works of the era: the material calls for a performance infused with pensive thought and infinite patience, and the Chinese-born zheng master delivered. Han gave each note its own shape: some rose up, others dove down, and still more shimmered with delicate vibrate, all controlled by subtle pressure on the strings behind the harp-like instrument's floating bridges. Han is an ethnomusicologist as well as a virtuoso, so it's perhaps natural that she should excel in bringing China's ancient repertoire to life, but she is also very much a woman of the 21st century, and this was revealed in her renditions of Tribute to Ling-ling: Music Inspired by Works of Visual Artist Chong Ling-Ling, a brand-new work by Toronto pianist Lee Pui Ming, and Bamboo, Silk, and Stone, by Randy Raine-Reusch and Barry Truax. With its ever-morphing electroacoustic counterpoint, the latter was particularly captivating, but Han's fierce concentration on Lee's dense and demanding score was no less impressive. Alex Varty, Oct 31, 2002

Additional Info Distant Wind was nominated for a Canadian Juno and reached #1 on the Canadian College World Music Charts

Location Vancouver, BC - Canada

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