Yiwen Lu

Yiwen Lu is one of the most well-known Erhu players in China. She is the council member of the Bowed Stringed Instruments Committee under China Musicians Association as well as the Erhu Committee under the China Nationalities Orchestra Society. She is currently teaching Erhu at Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Her major awards include the Gold Medal of the 10th Golden Bell Award Erhu Competition in 2015 (the highest award in any Chinese instrument competition) and the 4th Wenhua Prize, the Erhu Youth Group’s highest performance award in 2012.

As one of the leading Erhu artists with great technique and potential, Yiwen has won various major competitions and awards. In 2012, she won the Gold Medal of the International Erhu Competition under Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, and the Best Performance Award of “The 4th Erhu Rhapsody”; in the same year she won the Best Performance Award of the 4th Wenhua Prize and the first prize of the 1st “Zhuzhan Cup” International Erhu Competition. In 2013 she won the Gold Medal of the 1st “Huang Haihuai Erhu Prize.” In 2014, she was named one of “The Top Ten Chinese Erhu Players” by CCTV. In 2015, she won the Gold Medal of the 10th Golden Bell Award Erhu Competition, and in 2018 she was awarded as the Artist of the Year for 2016-2017 Chinese Traditional Music Award. In 2019, she was selected into the training program for young writers and artists in Shanghai, which is the highest accolade for the artists in this city. And in the same year, she won the subsidy from the "National Art Foundation Supporting the Young Talents Program – Performing Arts.” In 2020, she toured across China for more than 10 recitals with great reviews from critics and audiences.

The 2021-22 season includes many highlights. In 2021, Yiwen and Neo-classica String Quartet premiered new arrangements for Erhu and string quartet commissioned by Yiwen, and then toured with GSO Feiyue String Quartet across China; she also collaborated with classical guitarist Xuefei Yang and pipa player Ying Sun, to present the cross-over program “Sketches of China.” In the closing concert of Beijing Music Festival, Yiwen performed Tan Dun’s Erhu Concerto “Fire Sacrifice – War and Peace” under the baton of Tan Dun with China Philharmonic Orchestra, which was the world premiere of the work. She performed Qigang Chen’s Erhu Concerto “Reflet d'un temps disparu” with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra as well as  three New Year Concerts with the Hong Kong Philharmonic. In 2022, Yiwen will perform Qigang Chen’s “Reflet d'un temps disparu” with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and she will tour with the SSO East Coast Quartet, GSO Feiyue String Quartet and NCPAO Bridge Quartet.

During her studies in Shanghai Conservatory of Music, she was under the guidance of Liu Jie, Professor Chen Chunyuan and Erhu virtuoso Min Huifen.

In recent years, Yiwen has been active in major music scenes all over the world. In 2016, she was invited to join Chaiman Xi Jinping’s visit to Egypt and performed in the "Opening Ceremony of 2016 China-Egypt Cultural Year.” As a soloist she has extensively collaborated with major orchestras like the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Liège Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra, Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Qingdao Symphony Orchestra, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Taipei Chinese Orchestra, Suzhou Chinese Orchestra, Shanghai Chinese Orchestra and Jiangsu Chinese Orchestra. She has also given concerts and has been highly praised in many countries and areas around the world such as the Antarctic Great Wall Station, the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Israel, Singapore, Japan and Egypt, as well as in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Her solid basic skills, comprehensive performing technique, natural musicality, and striking presence on stage produce a performance of unique charisma. There are always traditional Chinese instrumental skills and emotions that can be heard from the sound under her strings, as well as the incredible combination of tradition and modern from her performances of contemporary Erhu pieces, including her own compositions and transcriptions. In the meantime she keeps digging into her instrumental performance, and she has also been making her own endeavors to promote Erhu internationally. Since 2018, she has been the Brand image spokesman of Tomastik-Infeld and Bam, which is the top brand of instrument strings and instrument cases all over the world, and brings vitality and fashion glamour to this classical Chinese instrument Erhu.