21st WASBE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS, RIO DE JANEIRO – BRAZIL - CHINA BREEZE for Wind Dectet by GAO HONG (China, 1964)
[#377] Oct 12, 2026
China | 2025 | Wind Dectet | Under-represented Composer | Grade 5 | 11’ | Chamber Winds
Premiered by LADYBAND conducted by Rose Tyler
Available directly from the composer Gao Hong
China Breeze, by Chinese composer and pipa performer Gao Hong is our Composition of the Week.
China Breeze was performed by the Michigan University Chamber Winds on July 23, 2026, at the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro during the 21st WASBE International Conference, conducted by Courtney Snyder.
China Breeze was commissioned through the “Women in Harmoniemusik Consortium”, led by Rose Craig Tyler and LADYBAND Minneapolis as well as 45 other institutions and ensembles, including the University of Michigan.
The work was premiered by LADYBAND under Rose Tyler in October 2025.
China Breeze is structured in three movements.
Awakening, Pastorale and Dancing Flower. The music has a total duration of 11 minutes, and it is available directly from the composer.
This recording has been donated by Mark Custom. To purchase the entire performance visit http://www.markcustom.com/
Gao Hong, a master of the pear-shaped lute, also known as the pipa, began her career as a professional musician at age twelve. She graduated from China’s premier music school, the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where she studied with the great pipa master Lin Shicheng.
In both China and the United States Gao has received numerous top awards and honors, including first prize in the Hebei Professional Young Music Performers Competition and an International Art Cup in Beijing. Gao became the first traditional musician to be awarded the prestigious Bush Artist Fellowship in 2005, and in 2019 she became the first musician to win five McKnight Artist Fellowships for Performing Musicians administered by MacPhail Center for Music. She became the first Chinese musician to win a Sally Award from the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in 2018. Mayor Melvin Carter of St. Paul, Minn. proclaimed April 3, 2022, to be “Gao Hong Day” in honor of her milestone concert at the Ordway Center celebrating her “50 Years of Making Music with Friends.”
As a composer, she has received commissions from the Minnesota Orchestra, American Composers Forum, Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis, Zeitgeist, Ragamala Music and Dance Theater, and TPT-PBS.
Gao has lived in the United States since 1994. She performs traditional and modern Chinese music, with her groups Spirit of Nature and Beijing Trio (a different group from the Beijing Trio which includes Max Roach, Jon Jang, and Jiebing Chen). She has also participated in cross-cultural musical collaborations, performing with jazz musicians and musicians from other cultures, including James Newton, Issam Rafea and Shubhendra Rao. She serves as the professor of Chinese musical instruments at Carleton College.
Other works for winds include:
• Celebration (2024) version for wind ensemble, version for Chamber Winds (2025)
• A Musical Journey for Pipa and Band (2023)
• Musical Journey for Wind Band (2026)
More on Gao Hong
