Oliver Yu formed a duo in 2006 to play a new kind of genre-crossing music with guitars from China and North America with added synthesizers and other sounds.
Zhi Min Yu, ruan, pipa
Yu was born in Beijing, China. She started learning pipa at an early age. While studying as a student, she was chosen to perform for foreign states' guests and leaders. Yu joined the China Broadcast Performing Arts Troupe and became very active in Beijing. Yu also performed in the Asian Arts Festival in Hong Kong and Japan. Later, she went to Japan again to organize a Chinese Folkloric Troupe. Yu was recognized as an ambassador of Chinese folk arts in Japan and often appeared on NHK television.
Later, she immigrated to Canada where she continues her musical career. She plays in many groups and has performed in major cities in Canada and the United States and had concert tours in Britain, France, Hawaii and Hong Kong. She has performed in festivals worldwide and appeared on many CD and broadcast recordings for CBC radio and television, BBC, Songlines, and others.
John Oliver, guitars, composition
Oliver was born in Vancouver, started playing guitar at the age of 8 and writing music at the age of 12 while developing other instrumental and vocal talents. He studied guitar and composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where American composer John Adams encouraged him to write music. After further studies at UBC and McGill University (where he received a doctorate in composition), Oliver went on to establish several Canadian new music ensembles that specialize in the mixture of acoustic instruments with electronics. He has performed across Canada and in the USA with François Houle, Peter Hannan, Sergio Barroso, Paul Dolden, Ron Samworth, Andrew Czink, Kazuhisa Uchihashi, Yasuhiro Otani, the Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble and Ensemble Symposium. Oliver performs on special nylon-stringed MIDI-capable guitars made by Quebec luthier Godin, specializing in their transformation by electronic and computer processing.
John Oliver came to international attention as a composer during 1988/89 when he won six prizes for five compositions ranging from chamber to orchestral to electroacoustic music. He won the Canada Council’s Grand Prize at the 8th CBC 8th National Competition for Young Composers. His music has been presented in Europe and the Americas and in Canada by the Canadian Opera Company, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, the CBC Radio Orchestra, Vancouver New Music, the St. Lawrence String Quartet, among others. His second opera, Alternate Visions will premiere May 1-5 in Montreal, and his recent symphony “Faces†was commissioned by the Windsor and New Westminster Symphony orchestras. His music appears on CDs from CBC Records, earsay, empreintes DIGITALes, McGill University Records, SNE and ZaDiscs.
