The Canadian Chinese Orchestra Chamber Ensemble (CCOCE) is an ensemble of traditional Chinese instrumentalists whose mission is to promote the rich cultural heritage of Chinese music in Canada. Forming the professional core of the Canadian Chinese Orchestra (CCO), CCOCE consists of musicians who are passionate about showcasing traditional Chinese music as well as exploring new directions for Chinese instruments. Each member of CCOCE has received professional training in Canada or abroad, and are experienced as solo, chamber, and orchestral musicians.
CCOCE’s mission encompasses two interrelated streams: performance and education. As performers, members of CCOCE regularly appear as soloists in CCO’s annual concerts. The ensemble also performs as a group at music festivals, including the Rhythms of Canada Festival (hosted by the Aga Khan Museum), Together We Rise Music Festival of Asian Arts, and Age of Literati Cultural Festival (hosted by Canada One Family Network). As part of its mission to explore new directions for Chinese music, CCOCE’s performances often involve collaborations with other musical cultures. Recent partnerships include the Canadian Sinfonietta (Western orchestra), Roa Lee (Korean gayageum), and Ravi Naimpally (Indian tabla), among others.
As educators, musicians of CCOCE serve as section leaders and mentors for the larger CCO, whose members range from preteens to seniors and come from all walks of life. CCOCE musicians can also be found teaching in private studios and at Yip’s Canada’s annual Chinese Music Summer Program, a day camp that introduces Chinese instruments to children aged 6 to 14. In this educational role, CCOCE contributes to its mission by promoting Chinese music to future generations.
Artistic Director and Conductor
Amely Zhou
Amely Zhou
Artistic Director and Conductor, Amely Zhou An expressive and dynamic figure on stage, Canadian Chinese musician Amely Zhou pursues a diverse career both as a conductor and an erhu soloist. Zhou is currently the Resident Conductor of the Toronto Youth Chinese Orchestra, and the Artistic Director & Conductor of the Canadian Chinese Orchestra. Zhou frequently appears on stage at Markham Theatre leading the Yip’s Montessori Chinese instrumental ensemble. Recent highlights include leading the Canadian Chinese Orchestra on stage at the Chinese Cultural Centre, P.C. Ho Theatre and being invited by the Toronto Chinese Orchestra as Guest Conductor in their 2017 winter concert program.
As an erhuist, Zhou toured with the Canadian Sinfonietta Youth Orchestra as a guest performer in 2016. Other than erhu, Zhou also plays guzheng, dizi, and piano. Zhou received Artists in Education grant from the Ontario Arts Council for teaching Chinese musical instruments in the public school sectors in 2015. As an ingenious and collaborative musician, she has premiered more than thirty new works by composers around the world. Zhou was featured on the cover of The WholeNote magazine in May-June issue 2017, and Andres Timar wrote in the cover story that “The high value she places on connecting with fellow musicians and audiences is among the most distinguishing features of her playing.”
While enrolled at York University, she won the university’s 2013 Concerto Competition as the erhu soloist in the Red Plum Capriccio. Zhou graduated in 2015 from York with an Honours B.A. in Music, and that year was accepted into the prestigious Shanghai Conservatory of Music summer program with a full scholarship to continue her erhu studies. Currently, Zhou is perusing her Chinese music studies and continuing her graduate studies in Ethnomusicology at York University.
CYCO Teaching Assistant, Dizi
Lipeng Wu
Lipeng Wu
Artistic Leadership, Lipeng Wu is a young musician who actively contributes to the music scenes in Canada. Since he was seven, he has been studying dizi under the influence of Jinming Cai, a dizi virtuoso from Nanjing University of the Arts. In 2005, he got invited to join Nanjing University’s Chinese orchestra. With the orchestra, he played in many festivals and also participated in a culture-exchange tour to Japan and South Korea. After moving to Canada in 2007, he has been frequently asked to perform at the Saskatoon Chinese New Year Gala and annual Folk Fest as a dizi soloist. Bringing Chinese traditional music to the local communities and expanding the love for Chinese music became the goal in his music career. After settling in Toronto, he joined Toronto Chinese Orchestra where he found lots of people had shared the same goal as his. He regularly performed with TCO in annual concerts as well as playing dizi concertos. In 2010, he has been invited to join a Chinese-Western fusion instrumental band ͞Spire͟ where he performs regularly in many festivals and New Year galas. Lipeng currently teaches dizi both privately and at other organizations, including Yip’s Canada: Music Montessori School and Toronto Shaolin Quanfa Institute. He also conducted workshops for the Toronto Catholic District School Board’s Asian Heritage Month and World Music Class at York University. His music demonstrates refined techniques and strong manifestation of expressions in the art of dizi playing.
CYCO Teaching Assistant, Guzheng
Lina Cao
Lina Cao
Artistic Leadership, Lina Cao is a young guzheng musician and a member of the Guzheng Society of Chinese Musicians Association. Having learned guzheng since she was 5 years old, in 2008 Lina was accepted to the Nanjing University of the Arts as an “excellent student,” where she studied with Professor Aihua Yan and Associate Professor Jie Ren. From 2011, Lina pursued further studies with Professor Wang Wei from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, earning a master’s degree there in 2016.
Lina has received popular acclaim throughout China both as a soloist and a chamber musician. She has been invited to multiple artistic exchanges in Germany, France, Belgium, Austria, Japan and Singapore, and had the opportunity to perform for world leaders during important events such as the “World Urban Forum” and the “Fifth EU-China Business Summit.” Invited in 2011 to the Sino-Japanese Friendship Concert, Lina was awarded an international gratitude certificate for “The Cause of World Peace.” In 2015, Lina won praise when she played the Chinese guzheng concerto “Qinhuai Capriccio” with Jiangsu Nationalities Orchestra; the performance was recorded live by The WFMT Radio the Network website from Chicago.
As a chamber musician, Lina premiered new works such as Moyu, Yixiangjun, Shungan, and Arirang Partita. Particularly, Lina’s Moyu Guzheng Group was the first guzheng philharmonic society to win two authoritative awards: the highest music award “The Golden Bell Awards” and top prize of Chinese Ministry of Culture “Wenhua Award”.
In addition to her work as a performer, Lina has released several papers in Chinese national journals such as “Yunshangsu Perfect Integration of Guzheng Technique and Emotion,” “Analysis of Guzheng Creation and Theory Taking Dark Angel as an Example,” “Music Performance Analysis of Polyphonic Guzheng,” all of which are collected in the China National Knowledge Internet.
Pipa
Lilian Yang
Lilian Yang
Lilian (Xiaolei) Yang, a Pipa (Chinese lute) musician, is a member of the Artist Society of Toronto as well as a soloist and instructor of Canadian Chinese Orchestra. Born in Beijing, China, she began her Pipa studies at age 8, with the renowned Pipa soloists and musicians, Liu Gui-lian, Kuang Yu-zhong and Sun Wei-xi from the prestigious Central Conservatory of Music.
In 1989, Lilian won the Best Performance Award at China’s first International Invitational for Chinese Traditional instruments (the ART Cup) . In addition, she won golden award in Beijing invitational Chinese instrument tournament multi times, and was subsequently featured on the People’s Music magazine’s national tour across China. In 1996, as the lead soloist, she was featured Beijing Television (BTV)’s traditional music show “Shuo, Yan, Tan, Chang” with Chinese folk arts masters such as Su Wen-mao and Ma Zeng-hui. She recorded many classic pieces such as “The Ambush from All Sides” and “Moonlight over Spring River”.
Lilian was a dynamic figure on Beijing’s traditional Chinese music stage, and a frequent performer in the celebrated Beijing Concert Hall and Forbidden City Concert Hall and was invited to perform for the highest level political leaders in Zhongnanhai, the Great Hall of the People and Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.
As an educator, Lilian was committed to teaching and instructing of Pipa music for over 25 years. She was the lead instructor of the Pipa ensemble for the opening ceremony of the 11th Asian Games in Beijing and served as advisors for multiple youth Chinese Orchestra. Hundreds of students achieve their goals with help from Lilian in national competitions and grade tests.
After moving to Canada, Lilian has been active in Toronto’s music scene as a leader in both performing and education. She regularly appears as a guest soloist or a member of Chinese Orchestra for organizations including Canadian Chinese Orchestra Annully Theme Concert, Anually Age of Literati Cultural Festival Theme Concert, Chinese Artist Society of Toronto Annual Concerts and Young Canadian Chinese Professionals. In 2023, Lilian was invited to be a jury of Canadian International Music Competition.
Suona
Herman Li
Herman Li
李惠明 (Herman) 生于峡西愉林，受父亲影响从八岁开始演奏陕北唢呐、管子、竹笛，并学习陕北传统音乐。 2004 毕业于香港亚洲音乐学院，继而在中国第一所现代音乐学校 — 北京迷笛音乐学校 (MIDI)– 及澳洲墨尔本Nmit学院现代爵土乐系深造。
Herman 音乐天才横溢，除在各学院皆获优等成绩外，更考取萨克斯及长笛 MIDI 制作专业的成就。他亦专长于陕北民歌演唱、民族管乐、唢呐、管子(筚篥) 、尺八和打击乐等！
Huiming 热爱音乐, 2003 成为中国民族管弦乐协会会员，2008 获得香港亚洲音乐学院导师资格证书，并受聘为深圳乐器城培训中心管乐导师。
他1998 至2003 于深圳市（锦绣中华发展有限公司）表演部任唢呐演奏员，2003 在甘肃省酒钢艺术团、省职工艺术团、嘉峪关丝绸之路艺术团担任艺术编导及担当民族管乐、萨克斯独奏，2004与甘肃省酒钢艺术团各地慰问演出，2005 参加北京MIDI 国际爵土音乐节，2006 赴加拿大参加魁北克省国际艺术节及蒙特利尔民族融合音乐艺术节。
李惠明 2008 至今从事音乐教育推广工作，与国内、外音乐人一起并肩为音乐而努力，并在各类型的音乐节演出。例如，杭州迷笛音乐节、中、德迷笛音乐节、深圳山海音乐节、深圳鹏城歌飞扬原创音乐节、香港国际诗歌节、苏荷诗歌节、中、德电子实验音乐节、多伦多Xing (核桃夹子娃娃) 舞剧配乐演奏等。
李惠明音乐领域广阔，不断为音乐奋斗。他于 2006 多伦多 Xing (灵舞) 的演出作舞剧配乐并出任音乐总监，2017 为深圳心乐团原创首演编曲总监，并加入多伦多红枫乐团任音乐导师。现定居加拿大，为自由音乐人，除演出外，从事教育、录制专辑歌剧、电影配乐等专业工作，提升社区及各地的音乐水平！
Herman, born in Shaanxi Yu Lin, China, under the influence of his father, began to play Suona and oboe and learnt northern Shaanxi traditional music as from the age of eight. In 2004, he graduated from the HONG KONG ASIA SCHOOL OF MUSIC. He then further his studies at China’s first contemporary music school, the Beijing Midi Music School and the Jazz department of Nmit Academy, Melbourne, Australia.
Herman’s music talents are outstanding. In addition to excellent academic accomplishment at school and college, he also earns professional achievement in saxophone and flute MIDI production. He, as well, specializes in singing northern Shaanxi songs, traditional ethnic flutes, suona, oboe,Shakuhachi and percussion music!
Huiming has deep affection for music, he became a member of the China Nationalities Orchestra Society in 2003. In 2008, he obtained the instructor qualification certificate from the Hong Kong Asia School of Music and worked as a flute teacher at the Shenzhen Musical Instrument Training Centre.
From 1998 to 2003, he served as a Suona performer at the Shenzhen (Jinxiu Zhonghua Development Co., Ltd.). In 2003, he acted as art director and played flute and saxophone at the Gansu Jiugang Art Troupe, the Provincial Staff Troupe, and the Jiayuguan Silk Road Art Troupe. In 2004 he followed the Gansu Jiugang Art Troupe on a Provincial consolation tour after the earthquake. In 2005, he participated in the Beijing MIDI International Jazz Festival and went to Canada to perform in the Quebec International Arts Festival and Quebec Ethnic Harmony Arts and Music Festival in 2006.
Li Huiming has engaged in the promotion of music education, working hard with local and foreign musicians side by side and performing in various music events. For example, he performed at the Hangzhou Midi Music Festival, China and Germany Extemporaneous Jazz Music Festival, Shenzhen Shanhai Music Festival, Shenzhen Pengcheng Ge Feiyang Original Music Festival, Hong Kong International Poetry Festival, ‘Soho’ Poetry Festival, China and Germany Electronic Experimental Music Festival, Toronto Xing (The Nutcracker Doll) Ballet and so on.
Li Huiming owns a vast music field and constantly strives for better music. He composed the music and acted as Music Director at the 2006 Toronto Xing (soul dance) Ballet, he was the original music arranger and director for the debut performance of the Shenzhen ‘Heart’ Orchestra in 2007, and joined the Canadian Chinese Orchestra as a music instructor. Now living in Canada, he is a freelance musician. In addition to performances, he is engaged in education, recording albums, operas, film scores, and other professional work augmenting music level in the community and everywhere!
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Di Zhang
Di Zhang
Di Zhang (MA and Ph.D. in Music from York University) is a professional artist active in Canada’s Music scene and academic discipline. She has performed at the
Toronto Music Garden, Wilfred Laurier University, York University, and the University of Toronto, among others. Tours have led her to performances in Vancouver, Montreal, Regina, Prince Edward Island, Saskatoon, Macau, Mainland China, and Portugal.
In addition to her performance, she is especially interested in ethnomusicology, classical and contemporary music improvisation, and composition. She was the
director of several projects, including York University’s Global Improvisation Lab, World Music Ensemble, CD album the Path to Contemporary, etc. Her improvisation and original work are featured on the CD, which is one of the pioneers of the yangqin album featuring jazz and contemporary improvisation, has been heard in concert performances, and is available on several videos that presented Live Transcontinental Improvisation in performance. Her research thus far has revolved around the cultural study of the yangqin, Chinese notation systems, pedagogical approaches to improvisation, improvisation in ancient and contemporary regional Chinese music and Western music, and the influence of the Silk Road and China’s New Government on the development of Chinese music, the limitation of Chinese music education system in modern society, a pedagogical model in teaching improvisation, etc.
Di is dedicated to and passionate about the promotion of new music. By sharing her experience in music creation and performance, she is willing to create and explore new music by a blend of world music elements and contemporary composition methodology.
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