Liu Zhuyang Zhuyang Liu : International Pioneer of Contemporary Guzheng Art
Young Guzheng performer in the UK | Composer | Plucked string art innovation artist
“ Liu Zhuyang, known as one of the most active and influential guzheng artists in contemporary Europe, is an innovator who brings traditional plucked instruments into international contemporary performances, improvisational experiments and cross-cultural contexts. Listening to her performance is not only an auditory journey, but also an awakening of traditional bloodlines in the contemporary era.
—— London Contemporary Strings Magazine
Liu Zhuyang, born in Beijing and now living in London, is a young guzheng player, composer and researcher of multi-ethnic instruments that straddles tradition and contemporary times. As the first performer to bring guzheng to Cafe OTO, a landmark of free improvisation music in the UK, he is also the youngest performer to date. Liu Zhuyang's amazing musical performance ability and improvisational talent have earned him the title of 'China's No. 1 improvisational guzheng player' in the Chinese music field. https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/events/byh-shovel-dance-collective-1/ ( Cafe OTO is a famous experimental music venue in London and an important platform for global avant-garde music, free improvisation and free jazz) )
Liu Zhuyang's compositions span a variety of musical styles and cultural backgrounds. She has brought the guzheng into history and into the core of international music dialogue. She has performed in important landmarks such as the Great Hall of the People, the British Museum, and the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. She is also active in experimental contemporary music festivals and concerts in Europe and East Asia. Her recordings and performances have been nominated for many music film awards, and the music short film she directed and produced was nominated for the Grammy Awards. She won the gold medal for solo and ensemble performances at the 2013 China-Japan-Korea International Guzheng Competition. Her collaborators span different music worlds, including international musicians such as Paul Cheneour, Shabaka Hutchings, Alan Bishop, Bill Orcutt, and Hiromichi Sakamoto, all of whom resonate with her with their cross-cultural and free improvisational spirit.
Only those who know their "inner self" can truly go out into the world
Liu Zhuyang has a deep and systematic study and research on the Chinese traditional music system. She does not only use "national culture" as a symbolic label to participate in contemporary expression, but truly starts from the core spirit of Chinese classical music, such as "ritual and music system", modal structure, performance ritual and physicality, and continues to accumulate in her growth, research and professional work.
She is well versed in the relationship between "sound" and "ritual" in traditional Chinese music, and understands how "sound" is a reflection of structure, order, and cosmology. This "inner strength" has created her unique expression path - she does not regard tradition as a symbol, nor is she eager to innovate - but instead goes deep into tradition, and after understanding its breathing and rhythm, quietly connects it with contemporary sound structures.
Zhuyang is proficient in many other Western instruments, including piano, guitar, flute, etc., which gives her a unique dual hearing system. She can not only understand the musical language from the instrumental level, but also deeply penetrate into the composition structure, rhythmic mechanics, sound level and other levels to create and teach across contexts. Among contemporary musicians, it is extremely rare to find an artist who can master traditional Chinese music theory and Western music theory so deeply and freely use, reconstruct and reinvent it in contemporary music expression. It is precisely because of this unique and profound inner accumulation that Liu Zhuyang can continuously expand the territory of Guzheng on the international stage and lead it into a broader and more complex contemporary music system. This quiet and continuous process of going inward gives her voice a unique weight when she goes to the world.
As a performer, she has led the art of guzheng to many international venues, and she has also been a leader in extracting guzheng from "Eastern tradition" and re-placed it in the global art dialogue. Her performances freely shuttle between contemporary concert halls, experimental spaces, museums and sound festivals, with solid traditional skills as the foundation, cross-border, improvisation, narrative and sound thinking as the framework, redefining the art of guzheng in the 21st century.
Whether in a concert hall, a recording studio, or a small workshop, Liu Zhuyang's performance is extremely evocative - music critics describe her performance as "time itself."
Her guzheng language tells about migration, integration and confrontation, and it has regained its sharpness and tenderness in the contemporary context. For her, music is not just a skill, but a relationship - cultural, physical, historical and future.
The orthodox lineage of a famous family · Establishing its own reputation
Liu Zhuyang has been learning guzheng since she was young and has been playing for more than 20 years. She studied under Zhou Xin, a famous master of the China National Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra. Her skills are inherited from the famous northern school, and her lineage can be traced back to Cao Zheng and Zhou Wang, the masters of the first generation of guzheng. She has solid skills, a distinctive style, and a leading performance.
In addition to traditional guzheng, steel zither, and polyphonic zither, she is one of the very few performers in China who has mastered the skills of playing the Korean Xuanqin, playing the three-stringed instrument, and has long studied a variety of Asian folk instruments such as the Japanese zither, gayageum, and Vietnamese plucked instruments. Her music is like a multilingual body that resonates with multiple languages, full of cultural intersections and layers of emotional penetration.
She has traveled across China, London, New York, Seoul, Berlin and other cities with her guzheng art. In recent years, she has been invited by Hong Kong TV stations to invite world musicians to perform in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Liu Zhuyang will tour Japan, New York State, Los Angeles and other regions in 2026. She is active in various platforms and performances across the domains of contemporary sound, installation and stage. For the international art world, Liu Zhuyang not only represents the high level of guzheng performance, but also symbolizes the creativity and complexity that oriental musical instruments can release in contemporary expression.
Leighton House Museum
专辑： 2023年与评为世界爵士最佳长笛音乐家100位，英国著名长笛音乐家Paul Cheneour 合作全即兴专辑'Water Dragon Temple' 水龙寺
Water Dragon Temple (2023)
A fully improvised album created in collaboration with renowned British flautist Paul Cheneour, recognised internationally for his work in jazz and improvisation.
深知“内在”的人，才能真正走向世界
刘竹洋对中国传统音乐体系有着深入、系统的修习与研究。她并非仅以“民族文化”作为符号性标签参与当代表达，而是真正从**“礼乐制度”、调式结构、演奏仪式性与身体性等中国古典音乐的核心精神出发**，在成长，研究与专业工作中不断积淀。
她深谙中国传统音乐中“音”与“礼”的关系，理解“声音”如何成为结构、秩序、宇宙观的映照。这种“内功”造就了她与众不同的表达路径——她不将传统视作符号，也不急于创新之名——而是深入传统内部，在理解其呼吸与节奏之后，与当代声音结构悄然衔接。
To Understand Tradition from Within Is to Open It to the World
Zhuyang Liu has undertaken extensive and systematic study of Chinese traditional music and its underlying musical thought. Rather than approaching “traditional culture” as a symbolic marker within contemporary practice, her work is grounded in the structures and philosophies that shape Chinese classical music — from ritual and music (li-yue), modal systems and performance traditions to the embodied relationship between musician, instrument and sound. These ideas have been accumulated and deepened throughout her musical training, research and professional practice.
Liu has developed a particular understanding of the relationship between sound and ritual, yin (音) and li (礼) — and of how sound can embody ideas of structure, order and cosmology within Chinese musical thought. This knowledge forms an internal foundation for her distinctive approach to music-making.
For Liu, tradition is neither a cultural symbol nor something that must be displaced in the name of innovation. Instead, she works from within tradition: understanding its structures, gestures, breath and sense of time before allowing them to enter into dialogue with contemporary approaches to sound.
竹洋熟练掌握许多其他西方乐器，包括钢琴、吉他、长笛等，这让她拥有独特的双重听觉系统。她不仅能从器乐层面理解音乐语言，更能深入作曲结构、节奏力学、声音层级等层面进行跨语境的创作和教学。在当代音乐家中，能如此深入掌握中国传统乐理，西方乐理，并在当代音乐表达中自如运用、重构与再发明的艺术家，极为罕见。正是因为这一独特而深刻的内在积淀，刘竹洋才能在国际舞台上不断拓展古筝的疆域，并引领它进入更广阔、更复杂的当代音乐体系之中。这种沉静、持续的往里走的过程，让她的声音，在走向世界时拥有了独到的重量。
作为演奏家她引领古筝这门艺术走入众多国际，更是将古筝从“东方传统”中抽离，重新安放于全球艺术对话中的引领者。她的演奏在当代音乐厅、实验空间、博物馆与声音节庆之间自由穿梭，以扎实的传统技艺为根基，以跨界、即兴、叙事与声音思辨为骨架，重新定义了21世纪的古筝艺术。
无论是在音乐厅、录音室，还是在小型工作坊中，刘竹洋的演奏都极具召唤力——乐评人将她演奏的形容成为“时间本身”。
她的古筝语言讲述的是迁徙、融合与对抗，它在当代语境中找回了它的锋利与温柔。对她而言，音乐不只是技艺，而是一种关系——文化的、身体的、历史的、未来的。
Zhuyang is also proficient in a range of Western instruments, including piano, guitar and flute, giving her an unusual dual musical perspective. She is able to approach music not only through instrumental technique, but through composition, rhythmic structure, sonic layering and the architecture of sound, allowing her to move fluently between different musical systems in both her creative and teaching practices.
Her knowledge encompasses Chinese traditional music theory, Western musical systems and contemporary approaches to composition and sound. Rather than treating these as separate disciplines, Liu draws upon them simultaneously — translating, restructuring and reinventing musical ideas across different contexts. This depth of internal study has enabled her to continually expand the possibilities of the guzheng on international stages, situating the instrument within increasingly broad and complex contemporary musical languages.
It is this sustained process of looking inward — of studying deeply before reaching outward — that gives her musical voice its particular weight.
As a performer, Liu has brought the guzheng into a wide range of international contexts, repositioning it beyond conventional perceptions of an “Eastern traditional instrument” and within a wider field of global contemporary music and art. Her performances move between concert halls, experimental music spaces, museums and sound festivals, grounded in rigorous traditional technique while extending through cross-cultural practice, improvisation, narrative and critical approaches to sound.
Through this practice, the guzheng becomes not simply an instrument through which tradition is preserved, but a living medium through which new musical relationships can be constructed.
Whether performing in a concert hall, recording studio or intimate workshop, Liu’s playing is characterised by an unusually compelling sense of presence. Her playing has been described by critics as “time itself.”
Her musical language on the guzheng speaks through migration, convergence and resistance, recovering both the instrument’s sharpness and its tenderness within contemporary contexts. For Liu, music is not simply a matter of technique, but a form of relationship — cultural, bodily, historical and yet to come.
杭州，爵士黄楼 JZ
《听见未响之音》——刘竹洋谈古筝、呼吸与当代倾听
A Conversation with Zhuyang Liu on Guzheng, Breath, and the Art of Listening Before Sound
采访 / 整理：Xiao Han
发表于《音以载道》音乐人物特辑（2025年春）
本文由Zhuyang Liu官方网站首发，内容整理自2025年春的一次访谈记录。
Han: 你被认为是在深厚的中国音乐传统与当代表演、实验声音之间架起桥梁的艺术家。你如何在实践中平衡这两者？
Zhuyang ：我并不认为它们是对立的。对我来说，传统不是一个固定的系统，它是会呼吸的，只是需要被仔细地倾听。我从北派古筝系统中成长起来，在那里，动作与静默的分寸与声音同样重要。但随着时间推移，我意识到，这些结构本身可以在不同的空间中再次展开——在世界级演出场所，地下演出场所，美术馆、公园里、即兴演奏中，它们都能重新发声。我所携带的，是一种“听”的习惯——一种知道如何等待、如何在声音尚未出现之前就已准备好的状态。
Han： 你经常谈到“呼吸”、“空间”、“音色”不是音乐的附属，而是基础。这是什么意思？
Zhuyang：对于我自己的演奏来说，我感受里的声音并不是附加的，它是你进入的一种空间。呼吸就是结构，一个音就像一笔书法、一句诗，它承载着重量。音与音之间的空白，同样重要，这样的句法不是装饰性的，它带着伦理感。它需要克制、清晰，以及对材料的尊重。古筝艺术中肢体的起承转合带来的“静音”承载了太多下一个音前的思绪和能量。可以这么说，这些‘气息’仿佛有更大的音量。这种感知方式，一直伴随着我，无论是在创作还是即兴中。
Han： 你曾在大英博物馆，也曾在像 Cafe OTO 这样重要的先锋实验空间演出。你如何看待古筝在这些场所中的位置？
Zhuyang：那是一种“安静的扰动”。不是喧哗的，也不猛烈，但它改变了感知。古筝不需要喊叫，它用另一种方式让人听见。
当我在这样的空间演奏，我不仅仅是在呈现一种乐器，而是在带入一种不同的时间逻辑。这对我来说，是一种最细微的“政治”——让非西方的时间感与记忆方式，在当代共存，并影响气氛的生成。或者这个时候，乐器所携带的背景文化在声音中重新定义，所有人都可以找到自己安全的聆听空间，感受方式。
Han： 你从小也学习钢琴、吉他、长笛等西方乐器。这对你现在的演奏有什么影响？
Zhuyang：它们给了我另一张地图。西方乐器让我学会了结构、层次，在这种启发下看待各种历史文化影响下，‘音乐’作为一种材质的表现，再次回看中国音乐，实在震撼。更多的是一种对于世界艺术的更大欣赏和敬畏。所以重要的是，不是我从某一边学到了什么，而是我学会了如何同时去听。我并不试图“融合”传统，我只是让它们在彼此之中发声，并探索更多的可能性。
Han： 如果有人问你：“你的音乐关于什么？” 你会怎么回答？
Zhuyang：关于“在场”。关于那些不被察觉却始终在场的结构——它们决定了我们如何说话、倾听、感受。有时候，它也只关于一根弦的颤动。
"She is not merely a performer — she is a guide who ignites the latent possibilities of the sonic world."— K. Van Vliet
Hearing What Has Yet to Sound
A Conversation with Zhuyang Liu on Guzheng, Breath, and the Art of Listening Before Sound
Interview / Edited by Xiao Han
Published in the Music as a Vessel of the Way Musician Feature, Spring 2025
First published on the official website of Zhuyang Liu. This text has been edited from a conversation recorded in spring 2025.
Han: You are often seen as an artist who builds bridges between a deep grounding in Chinese musical traditions and contemporary performance and experimental sound. How do you balance these two aspects of your practice?
Zhuyang: I don’t really see them as opposites. For me, tradition isn’t a fixed system. It breathes — it simply needs to be listened to carefully.
I grew up within the northern-school tradition of guzheng, where the measure of a gesture, and of silence, can be just as important as the sound itself. Over time, I began to realise that these structures could unfold again in completely different spaces — in major international venues, underground music spaces, museums, parks, or through improvisation. They can find their voice again wherever they are placed.
What I carry with me is perhaps a habit of listening — knowing how to wait, and how to be ready before a sound has even appeared.
Han: You often speak about “breath”, “space” and “timbre” not as secondary elements of music, but as its foundations. What do you mean by that?
Zhuyang: In my own playing, sound isn’t something you add. It is a space that you enter.
Breath itself can become structure. A single note can be like a stroke of calligraphy, or a line of poetry — it carries weight. The space between one sound and the next matters just as much. That kind of syntax isn’t ornamental. There is something ethical about it. It asks for restraint, clarity, and respect for the material.
In guzheng performance, the physical movement between gestures creates its own kind of silence. That silence can hold so much thought and energy before the next sound arrives. Sometimes I feel that these breaths are somehow louder than the notes themselves.
That way of sensing sound has stayed with me, whether I am composing or improvising.
Han: You have performed at the British Museum, as well as at important experimental venues such as Cafe OTO. How do you understand the place of the guzheng within these very different contexts?
Zhuyang: I think of it as a kind of quiet disturbance.
It isn’t loud or forceful, but it changes perception. The guzheng doesn’t need to shout. It makes itself heard in another way.
When I perform in spaces like these, I’m not simply presenting an instrument. I’m bringing another logic of time into the room. For me, there is a very subtle kind of politics in that — allowing non-Western experiences of time and ways of carrying memory to coexist within a contemporary space, and to participate in shaping its atmosphere.
At the same time, the cultural histories carried by an instrument can be redefined through sound. The listening space doesn’t have to belong to one culture or one history. Everyone can find their own place within it — their own way of listening and feeling.
Han: You also studied Western instruments such as piano, guitar and flute from a young age. How has that influenced the way you play today?
Zhuyang: They gave me another map.
Western instruments taught me different ways of thinking about structure and layers. Through that, I began to look at music itself almost as a material — something shaped by different histories and cultures. And when I returned to Chinese music with that perspective, I found it extraordinary.
More than anything, it gave me a greater appreciation for, and humility towards, the enormous breadth of musical and artistic traditions in the world.
So for me, the important thing isn’t what I learnt from one side or the other. It is that I learnt how to listen to both at once.
I’m not trying to “fuse” traditions. I simply allow them to sound within one another, and see what other possibilities might emerge.
Han: If someone asked you, “What is your music about?”, how would you answer?
Zhuyang: Presence.
The structures that often go unnoticed but are always there — shaping how we speak, how we listen, how we feel.
And sometimes, it is simply about the vibration of a single string.
大师班与私教课程
Masterclass & Private Instruction with Zhuyang Liu
教学语言：中 / 英双语
授课时间：每周五 - 周日，预约制
授课形式：伦敦刘竹洋音乐工作室面授 N1 或 Zoom / Skype 线上
报名咨询：liuzhuyang704@gmail.com
Teaching Languages: Mandarin Chinese / English
Availability: Friday–Sunday, by appointment
Lesson Format: In-person at Zhuyang Liu Music Studio, London N1, or online via Zoom / Skype
Enquiries & Bookings: liuzhuyang704@gmail.com