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composers and performers challenging themselves to produce new ways of blending the traditional with the experimental. Lu's progressive approach to the erhu mirrors the general attitude toward Western classical and traditional music in China, although there are a few critical voices. Despite being known for his own experimentalism, the Paris-based erhu great Guo Gan believes that young erhu players in China risk losing the erhu's unique identity if they focus only on mastering Western artistic expressions. In an interview with Cerise Press in 2010, Guo cautioned players to preserve what is original and distinctly Chinese about the erhu's sound. Guo has a pessimistic view of the erhu's future, saying that mainstream Chinese culture has moved on without it, citing the problems of Westernization and commercialism. Lu is more optimistic; as a child, she fell in love with the erhu after hearing its music, and she believes that the unique sound will continue to draw learners. "It's true that many more people are learning Western music in China than before, but there are still significant numbers of young people enrolling in traditional music programs in schools and universities." Lu also doesn't think that the erhu is in danger of becoming a rarefied instrument played only by conservatory graduates. "The folk music tradition is still strong in China," she says, adding that even outside of the conservatory world, "there will always be people who have a love for the erhu's traditional heritage and sound." LU POINTS OUT THAT THE ERHU IS STILL DEVELOPING, WITH COMPOSERS AND PERFORMERS CHALLENGING THEMSELVES TO PRODUCE NEW W AYS OF BLENDING THE TRADITIONAL WITH THE EXPERIMENTAL. 36 www.peakperfs.org After the Cultural Revolution ended in the 1970s, the reopening of Western-style music conservatories led to the creation of a pool of trained musicians who specialized in the erhu, blending various regional melodies with complex rhythms and the use of artificial scales. As capitalism has pressured more Chinese men to work instead of study the arts, Chinese conservatories have increasingly produced more female graduates, and with the erhu detached from its lower-class roots and placed into an academic context, more women have begun to play the instrument. Many of the erhu's most acclaimed virtuosos are women, including Min Huifen, called "the Queen of Erhu" and a mentor to Yiwen Lu. Like Min, Lu is a product of conservatory training; she began studying at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music at age 9 after winning a national competition and eventually completed her master's degree there. The conservatory's influences run deep in her playing, which retains a mixture of traditional and modern techniques — although Lu also layers foreign influences and her own experimentalism on this foundation to create her bold and distinct signature. In Lu's opinion, the erhu's trajectory toward the concert stage is what makes it an excellent symbol of Chinese culture: "I think the erhu epitomizes how Chinese music modernized in the 20th century." She points out that the erhu is still developing, with The Shanghai Quartet. Photo: Xuejun Zhang

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