The famous pipa player Zhao Cong served as the head of the Central Chinese Orchestra

Beijing, 3 Feb (Xinhuanet) -- On 3 February, the Personnel Department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism officially announced the appointment of the new leader of the Central Chinese Orchestra, and the famous pipa player Zhao Cong was appointed as the head of the Central Chinese Orchestra.

Zhao Cong

Zhao Cong, chief pipa player, national first-class actor, and young composer funded by the National Arts Fund, enjoys a high reputation in the international classical music scene. She takes the promotion of Chinese national music as her own responsibility and has been committed to the promotion of pipa art in the world for many years. Inheriting the tradition, having the courage to innovate, creating one first and only one after another, and becoming an outstanding representative of Chinese musicians.

Zhao Cong said in his inaugural speech: "Serving the people is the natural duty of literary and art workers, and it is an important work content of the orchestra to put the construction of the talent team in a more prominent position and build a team of artistic talents that is compatible with the development of the new era." Strive to comprehensively enhance the strategic guidance and support role of talents in the future development of the orchestra, strive to take good care of the pillars of the older generation, unite the current pillars, and cultivate the pillars of tomorrow. ”

Zhao Cong is currently the 13th Standing Committee Member of the All-China Youth Federation, the director of the cultural and artistic circles, the vice chairman of the Youth Federation of the Central State Organs, the director of the Chinese Musicians Association, the special allowance expert of the State Council, the consultant of the Peking University Art Troupe, the distinguished professor of Fudan University in Shanghai, the first art visiting scholar of Stanford University, the visiting scholar of art at The University of London and Cambridge, the distinguished artist of Harvard University China Day in the United States; the certification of "International World Music Performance Master" in the United States; the National Art Fund, the CCTV Folk Music Competition, Judge of the International Chinese Musical Instrument Competition and many other competitions; the first National Arts Fund focused on funding musicians, "cultural masters" and "four batches" of talents and outstanding discipline leaders of the Central Propaganda Department. He graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music in 2000 and studied art management at peking university's senior professional training class in 2015. She has visited more than 50 countries and regions in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Australia. More than 40 foreign heads of state have listened to her piano. He has won the "First Prize" of the National Youth Professional Pipa Competition for many times, the "Overseas Promotion Individual Contribution Award" of the former Ministry of Culture, and the Gold Medal of the San Jose International Musical Instrument Competition in the United States. He has published his solo albums "Carmen", "Listening to China", "Classic Eternity", "Pipa New Language", etc., and personally composed the pipa concerto "Silk Road Flying Sky", the pipa concerto "Fudge Tianchang", and the pipa suite "Music Singing Oriental". Among them, "Listening to China" became the first Chinese national instrumental solo album released in the history of Universal Universal Records, which was collected by the National Library of China and the National Library of the United States. In addition, his personal design of the "piggyback lute" was granted a national patent. Zhao Cong's original pipa solo "Silk Road Flying Sky" won the first National Arts Fund Review Excellent Funding Project, and commented on foreign media that "Silk Road Flying Sky" is a Powerful Chinese work with an international musical vocabulary. Important state events such as the 2016 China G20 Summit "The Most Memorable is Hangzhou" concert and the 2017 "Belt and Road" International Summit have all served as representatives of Chinese music, showing the charm of Chinese music to heads of state. In 2019, he participated in the concert of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Russia attended by the heads of state of the two countries in Moscow. In 2019, he created the song "Red Flag Rising", and in 2020, he created the song "Kunpeng Zhi" and distributed it globally, with more than 30 million views on the whole network.