Duo Chinoiserie

Founded in 2016, Duo Chinoiserie is a world-culture-inspired ensemble comprised of a traditional Chinese instrument and a western instrument – the guzheng and guitar. Its repertoire embraces traditions from cultures across Eurasia and displays the interactions and similarities as well as the uniqueness and exoticism of different musical cultures. As its name implies, the communication between East and West promotes a multicultural artistic exchange for a more inclusive world.

Duo Chinoiserie has performed in Spain, China, and the United States. Their performances have been described as sensational by audiences and critics alike, and their creative artistic activities have been featured by mainstream media outlets including the Arizona Daily Star and Tucson Lifestyle Magazine.

Jing Xia, a talented young guzheng performer, is the gold medal winner of the World Rising Star Competition and was awarded the Bronze Prize of the Golden Bell Award by the Chinese Musicians Association, China's largest and most esteemed musical organization. Collaborating with many renowned chamber and symphonic orchestras, as well as traditional Chinese instrument ensembles, Xia has performed in many countries in Asia, Europe, America, and Oceania. A Master of Arts from the China Conservatory of Music, Xia currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Applied Intercultural Art Research at the University of Arizona.

A lifelong devotion to the culture of traditional music, Xia is also enthusiastic about exploring new music, techniques, idioms, sounds, genres, cultures, and other aspects of musical perception. Xia Jing’s playing style of the guzheng is calm and subtle, yet very powerful and emotional. She pursues the true nature of music and makes her listeners feel the beauty of heaven and earth, love of life, and the light of humanity.

Bin Hu has performed in Austria, China, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, the Philippines, Spain, and the USA, as a soloist, chamber musician, and soloist with orchestra. Among the works he has premiered, one of the highlights of his career include a world première of a guitar concerto composed by Jorge Rodriguez-Caballero with the Pärnu City Orchestra in Estonia.

Among the prizes he received from international guitar competitions, as first-prize winner of the 2016 David Russell Bach Prize, a competition judged solely by Grammy-award winner David Russell, has earned Hu a reputation as a Bach interpreter. A scholar and educator, Hu has been invited to several musical institutes in China to present a variety of topics on Baroque performance practices on guitar. As a recording artist, his all-Bach CD, Ciaccona, produced by Eudora Records in Spain, has received critical acclaim worldwide.

Bin Hu began classical guitar lessons at age 11 with Zhiwei Li, a pioneer and founder of the first classical guitar school in China. He then studied privately in Beijing with Jiajiong Li of the Central Conservatory of Music. His undergraduate studies were with Heiki Mätlik at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in Tallinn, Estonia. He then moved to Salzburg, Austria to study with Marco Tamayo at the Universität Mozarteum and earned his Master of Arts degree with distinction. He currently holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Arizona and was part of the studio of Professor Thomas Patterson. Within the framework of his studies, Hu also took part in master classes taught by Sérgio and Odair Assad, David Russell, and Ricardo Gallén, among others.