Ma Xiaohui At Ramsey Auditorium - Performance Review by Ken

The above is the photo of Ken and his wife with Ms. Ma Xiao Hui.

The following article is the review written by Kent Qualter, music columnist , published for "City NewsHound" Chicago :-

There are a lot of very good musicians in the world. There are actually a lot of great musicians around. But there is another level of musicianship and talent above that where the club becomes much more elite. Musicians who have such a natural ease and affinity with their instruments that it seems that they were born with them. Their instruments are merely an extension of their bodies. Ma Xiaohui would appear to be such a musician.

Ma Xiaohui is a virtuoso on the erhu. The erhu is an ancient Chinese traditional instrument. It might be described as a two string violin. It can be bowed or plucked. Tonally, it sounds like a violin, although it can also produce a more reedy quality, sounding like a violin blended with a bagpipe or clarinet. At other times it sounds almost like a flute. The erhu has a pretty amazing tonal and dynamic range.

Ms. Ma is already a star in China where she has received numerous awards and performs in the most prestigious venues. During the past decade she has performed over 500 concerts with the worlds most renowned orchestras and musicians throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas. She is best known in the United States for her deeply moving duet with cellist Yo-Yo Ma on the Oscar winning soundtrack of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

Ma Xiaohui performed at Ramsey Auditorium at Fermilab on Saturday, August 1. She was accompanied by pianist Erika Tam-Wang, cellist Mark Lekas, and percussionist Matthew Coley. The format changed between solo, duo, trio, and quartet. The three stellar musicians provided a very sympathetic accompaniment for Ms. Ma. Ms. Tam-Wang played with a style and grace that earned her a solo performance on "Dance Of Spring."

The program showcased the range and musical tastes of Ma Xiaohui. It included an Egyptian folk song, a piece by J. S. Bach, "My Way," a piece by South American composer Astor Piazzola, traditional and contemporary Chinese music, and an original composition, "The Spirit of My Erhu." The encore consisted of a waltz and a tango. The modern Chinese music was particularly interesting. It seemed to be a fusion of Western classical and Chinese ideas.

I would guess that her accompanists were playing primarily fixed parts, while Ms. Ma had much more freedom to improvise. She is a very expressive performer, evoking everything from profound sorrow to joy to humor (her musical argument with the cello during "My Way.") There is a very romantic quality to her playing. Stylistically, there were traces of jazz, Celtic, and gypsy music in her solos, as well as classical and Oriental. She also incorporated birdcalls and the sounds of a horse whinnying into her performance. While animal calls are nothing new, to incorporate them so seamlessly into a solo requires extraordinary talent.

Ma Xiaohui takes great pride in her Chinese heritage and culture. But she also embraces the other cultures she comes into contact with. She performs with style, and grace, and a wonderful sense of humor. She is a marvelous ambassador for the Chinese people and a rising star in the musical universe.

Ma Xiaohui will be performing at the UIC Forum on Sunday, August 9, at 2 PM. Call 312-413-9875 for ticket information

Sweet Temptation from the Far East - Ma Xiaohui

Review on the Conclusion of the Work Concert Series with Ma Xiaohui on the Chinese and Ola Rudner on the European Violin – Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Reutlingen


Sweet Temptation from the Far East


With a shining red kimono and a towering hairstyle splendor, Ma Xiaohui left no doubt at all, already from an optical viewpoint, that she was going to bring a good portion of China to the List concert hall. In fact, she did so on Friday evening in her performance with the Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra in the last Work Concert of the Series. And with an “erhu,” a kind of Chinese violin. A long, thin stem sits on a tiny, thickset body that is covered – animal welfarists, please, try not to listen for a moment! – by a snake skin.

“Small, but oho! A mighty midget“ one would like to say. For the fragile looking instrument that, like a mini cello, vertically standing is being played with its body on the lab, enfolds a breathtaking richness of sounds. The wide range stretches from a dark-melancholic, cello-like murmur to very lively whirling dance motives. Powerful melodious sequences alternate with powder of stars in the highest skies. There is no problem for the pretty Chinese to stand up to the orchestra And the audience was there marveling.


This evening a Chinese presented herself that is definitively open to the West. Moderator Tobias Grauer was clearly right by pointing to the soundtrack of the film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” in order to introduce the virtuoso to the audience. Admittedly, Ma Xiaohui began her own composition “The Spirit of My Erhu” with abstract tone landscapes, whose tentative sounds again and again break out of the usual European semitone scale.

A touch of “Bollywood”

Yet, amidst the mythical strangeness the soloist threw a melody that was so catchy and emotional like the brochure for vacation in China. And one found oneself in the genre that mixes Far-Eastern folklore with Western classical music and a bit Pop. Just a kind of Chinese “Bollywood” if one wishes.

Also her second piece “Shepherdess in the Tianshan Mountains,” presented now in a snow-white kimono, was devoured by the audience like honey. This own composition displayed a lot of temperament and fascinated by its changes from poetic tender to go-getting parts. Much applause!


[Photo: Art in Kimono: Ma Xiaohui with the Chinese violin “Erhu.”]
Reutlinger Generalanzeiger, 16 June 2009.
Review on the Work Concert of the Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Reutlingen
Fairytales and Myths

From a fairytale East came the music of the guest soloist Ma Xiaohui. The world-renowned virtuoso on the Chinese Erhu, a kind of two-string, delicate knee-cello with a long stem and a resonance body covered by snake skin, played her own compositions: “The Spirit of My Erhu” and “Shepherdess in the Tianshan Mountains.”


Singing Strings and Gentle Voice


As the first began with micro intervals and a subtle art of tone colors and then led to global Neo-Romantic, a similar pattern evolved in the second: Playful precluding followed very expressive singing of the strings and a crescendo finale.


Touching was the moment when Ma Xiaohui complemented the singing of the wailing strings with her own gentle voice: the spirit of the erhu – the essence of the human voice.


[Photo: Guest soloist at the Work Concert of the Philharmonic Orchestra – the erhu-player Ma Xiaohui]


Reutlinger Nachrichten, 15 June 2009.

Ma XiaoHui Is Dior's Famous Artist Image in China !

Hello ! You may go to http://asiancemagazine.com/ and http://asiancemagazine.com/jan_2009/musician_and_composer_ma_xiaohui for the latest news of Ma Xiaohui at Asiance Magazine !

Musician and composer Ma Xiaohui

One of China’s few first-class traditional artists, embracing a two-decade international career, renowned Shanghai Erhu musician and composer Ma Xiaohui is “an artist who speaks with the world through Erhu.” Raised in an academic family, she graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Ma Xiaohui is artistic advisor to the Shanghai Grand Theater, a member of the United Nations Oriental Art Center, and served as “Love Ambassador” for the World Special Olympics held in Shanghai (October 2007) – where she tutored young Olympian Qiao Meili on Erhu for the Flame Lighting opening ceremony. Past concertmaster to the Shanghai Traditional Orchestra, and an adjunct professor at Southwest Jiaotong University, she also serves as adviser to the Hong Kong Youth Music Association.

Additionally, Ma Xiaohui serves as Education Advisor to the Shanghai Grand Theatre Education Center. Awarded the First Prize for the National Guangdong Music Competition, the Baosteel Classic Arts Award, and First Prize for the first Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, she has also appeared as the first Chinese traditional performer in numerous major world festivals. Ma Xiaohui is perhaps most readily recognized for her duet with famed cellist Yo- Yo Ma on the Oscar-winning soundtrack for the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Indeed millions of us have heard the sounds of her music and have been moved by the emotional power of her playing, giving little thought as to who the artist is. Yes, millions of us have heard Xiaohui Ma playing on the Oscar winning soundtrack of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and felt our emotions rising and falling as Ms Ma's Erhu weeps and laughs with the Cello of Yo-Yo Ma.

Ma had her New York debut at Carnegie Hall's Weill Hall this past June and performed to a rapturous audience. She returned to NYC this past November to give a lecture and to perform a recital at the United Nations. Ms Ma's lecture was on the healing power of music as well as on the history of the Erhu and its role in the cultural development of China.

It is of note that Tan Dun, the famed Chinese composer, sent a letter of support that he asked to be read during her Carnegie Weill Hall performance in lieu of his attendance. In the letter, Mr. Dun stated: “Ms. Ma, you are truly one of the most talented young musicians of our time and you have made it your challenge to transform the Erhu from being an instrument only associated with traditionally Chinese music to one recognized on the great stages of the world as a bona fide classical instrument.” He added: “Your talent and virtuosity was evident to me . . . and your ability to caress the most exquisite sounds from the Erhu is demonstration of a rare talent.” Proud of its national treasure, the Chinese government in 2000 presented Ma Xiaohui as Cultural Ambassador in Shanghai’s successful bid for the 2010 World Exposition.

Recently, Ma Xiaohui was selected to become the new Dior “famous artist image” in China. This is the first time in the history of Dior that a Chinese artist virtuoso was chosen to be their cosmetics face for China. Dior posters portray a beautiful image of Ma Xiaohui with her darling Erhu, reflecting something of her charm and unique musical ability. We spoke to Ma after her performance at Carnegie Hall.