Li Xiangting

Renowned for his command of the guqin, the seven-stringed Chinese zither, Li Xiangting maintains an active schedule of international recitals while serving since 1963 as a professor at China’s Central Conservatory of Music, where he imparts his understanding of the historic instrument.

His training began with Zha Fuxi before he entered formal study with Wu Jinglue at the Central Conservatory of Music, remaining there from 1958 through his 1963 graduation. A 1989 fellowship from Cambridge University brought him to London, where he devoted five years to investigating guqin improvisation and delivering lectures at the Music Research Center of the Afro-American Institute.

Xiangting’s appearances include landmark performances. He became the first guqin player invited to the Oriental Musical Festival in Scotland in 1982, and a decade afterward he set a new benchmark for attendance at a guqin recital by drawing 10,000 listeners to the Paris Municipal Theatre De Laville.