Born in Beijing and formerly a pipa soloist with the Central Orchestra of Chinese Music in China, Cheng Yu is a renowned pipa lute and guqin zither virtuoso, ethnomusicologist and specialist in Chinese music. She studied the pipa from the age of 7 from her father (a Pudong pipa master) and the guqin zither from the age of 14, graduated with distinction from the Xi’an Conservatory of Music and won several top prizes for her pipa performances. Based in London since the 1990s, she gained scholarships for her MMus and PhD degrees in ethnomusicology at SOAS, University of London. She is a co-founder of the UK Chinese Music Ensemble (1998), the London Youlan Qin Society (2003) and the award-winning Silk String Quartet (2007).
Cheng Yu has been actively involved in contemporary and cross-culture/genre music collaborations with musicians such as pianist Lang Lang, Cellist Matthew Barley, Damon Albarn and composers including Tan Dun, Zhou Long, Philip Glass, Peter Wiegold and Gabriel Prokofiev. Her project (2005-7) to recreate the 5-stringed pipa (lost since the 8th century) with new music has won her awards from ACE, AHRC and Women in Music and premiered in London, Beijing, Seoul and Taipei.
She established the UK’s first China-West Mixed orchestra – the Flowing Water Ensemble – with a new work premiered in London’s Hackney Empire Theatre. In summer 2018, she successfully directed the week-long First London International Guqin Festival, which was awarded funding from several organisations, including Arts Council England, and drew musicians and scholars from over a dozen countries. She lives in London and teaches pipa and guqin music at SOAS, University of London.
Breaking down cultural boundaries with his extraordinary artistry and new approach to composition, virtuoso sitarist,
Jasdeep Singh Degun, brings a new energy and vision to both Indian classical and contemporary music. He’s redefining genres and passionate about exposing music from his heritage to audiences across the globe.
Learning under the careful guidance of Ustad Dharambir Singh MBE, Jasdeep has performed all over the world in many high profile productions and prestigious venues, including Buckingham Palace, the Amphitheatre in Doha, and the Royal Albert Hall at the 2014 BBC Proms to name just a few. He’s written, arranged, and produced music for a diverse array of projects and soundtracks, including music for orchestra, contemporary classical ensembles, and high profile music productions.
He was awarded a Sky Academy Scholarship to work on his debut album of contemporary and classical music titled ‘Anomaly’, working under the guidance of celebrated musician and producer, Nitin Sawhney.
Based in Nottingham UK since 1990 Ling performed for several years with the London Chinese Orchestra performing at such venues as the Purcell Rooms and Queen Elizabeth Hall bringing Chinese classical music to a UK audience.
She has also worked in Europe in a western classical context through her many invitations to perform with the Luxembourg Sinfoniatta.
Ling founded and leads a Chinese folk ensemble: Chinese Whispers which has toured extensively in the UK for several years. Ling returned to China to source and preserve traditional Chinese folk music which she has arranged herself and introduced to the repertoire of her ensemble.
For many years, Ling has collaborated with artists in various fields and across many cultures: musically, this encompasses work with Jamaican reggae, Indian, African and Russian musicians. She has worked diversely with performance artists, theatre designers and playwrights to produce new works which often fuse western art forms with Chinese, bringing new perspectives, new audiences and new understanding to both Chinese music and Chinese culture.
Rishii Chowdhury
Rishii is well embedded into the cultural fabric in Leicester. He is a well known and gifted tabla player and has enthralled audiences for many years. Rishii is an advocate for artist development. He completed a leadership programme with Performing Arts Leicester (PAL) in 2013 and went on to gain a mentoring qualification with the Pedestrian Charity.
Rishii is an ambassador for Indian music having lectured at the Cultural Integration Fellowship, San Francisco, California, Attenborough Arts Centre Leicester and Birmingham Heartlands Hospital.
Rishii has been playing tabla since the age of four. He’s been described as an Overseas Youth Icon by the Eastern Beats Music Society, Assam, India. It is Rishii’s dedication to the art of tabla that has led him to learn from the World’s greatest tabla maestros such as Pandit Anindo Chatterjee and Ustad Zakir Hussain. Rishii also receives guidance from Suphala Patankar, disciple of the late tabla master Ustad Allarakha.
Amongst Rishii’s many achievements in the arts, he raised over £1500 for the Brain Tumour Charity playing the tabla non-stop for 8 hours in 2017. Rishii has produced a number of shows under Rishi Arts with the support from Arts Council England such a Melodies on the Brink, Freshly Brewed and Confluence. The success of the shows was down to Rishii’s innate gift of bringing artists together and inspiring and empowering them to flourish.
Over the past two years the Orchestra has been involved in exciting artistic collaborations with film and television composers such as Ilan Eshkeri (Stardust, Young Victoria), BBC composer Chris Nicolaides (Revealing Destiny) and Oscar-winning composer Anne Dudley (Poldark, The Full Monty). Upcoming projects will involve a new collaboration with Rachel Portman (Chocolat, Emma, Beloved). Other projects include performances with headliner Stormzy at the Wireless Festival, and recording for X Factor UK.
The Orchestra advocate and support the work of female artists in all areas of the film industry. Among these projects have been premieres of new works from Hollywood Music in Media award- winning composer Amanda Lee Falkenberg and up-and-coming composer Nicola Chang.
Late last year the orchestra announced a series of networking events with guest speakers affiliated with the film and television industry. Our guests have included producer, composer, and musician Troy Miller, and young award-winning independent Emerati filmmaker Amal Al-Agroobi.
Reflecting the rich international palette in London, the Orchestra includes musicians from all over the globe.
The London Film Music Orchestra is committed to engaging and inspiring young people through immersive music experiences.