Little did I know that the Royal Festival Hall is just one of three venues inside of the Southbank Centre, conveniently located at the heart of London. After several minutes of searching, I enter the ‘Ballroom hall’ expecting fishtails and tuxedos, instead am enticed by the decadent sounds of Xuefei Yang, China’s answer to John Williams and classical guitars.
For those students spending hours on Youtube and playing air guitar, you may know that Xuefei Yang is at the top of the directory when it comes to classical guitar music. The 28 year-old female artist is a pioneer in her field, not only as the first guitarist to enter a music school in China, to launch an international guitar career from China, as well as (yes, despite the grumbling) the first Chinese guitarist to sign with a major record label (EMI)!
I stroke my chin and grin as she starts to pluck the famous ‘Deer Hunter’ piece, ‘Cavatina’ by Stanley Myers. As desperate as I am to shout out ‘I know that one,’ I indulge in absolute finger-picking fluidity, flawless in every way. As the £12,000 Australian rosewood echoes along the festival floor, it is purely a hand-holding sort-of moment as she progresses on to prevalently known ‘Romanza de Amor,’ in other words the ‘Love Story’ theme. But if romance is not your cup of tea, then marinate your ears in Argentinean tangos like ‘La Campesita.’ My eyes seem to blur at the speed of her flamenco form, just another skill to add to her youthful array of talent.
Xuefei Yang’s popular classical repertoire does make the average so-and-so say ‘she is not that special, she only plays routine classical pieces,’ but in her own words, “it’s nice to hear different versions and dimensions to important pieces of music- you have more to prove that way.” And with that, we nod in agreement- she makes it her own with a gentle smile on her face.
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