Date：Oct.13 7:30p.m.

Venue：Shanghai Grand Theatre

Gu Jieting

Gu Jieting is a Chinese classical pianist living in France. She was born in a scholarly family: her great-uncle V.K. Wellington Koo was a prominent diplomat under the Republic of China, representative to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, Ambassador to France, Great Britain, and the United States; her grandfather Gu Shusen is an outstanding educator in the history of modern Chinese education and her father Gu Keren is a Kun Opera scholar who founded the China Kunqu Opera Museum. Growing up, Gu Jieting has been greatly encouraged in the artistic environment from her family. It leads her towards a career in art in the new generation.

Gu Jieting graduated from Conservatoire National Supérieur de la Music de Paris with a master’s degree in Piano and a DFS (Diplôme de Formation Supérieure) in Piano and Chamber Music. Gu started piano practice since she was 3-year-old; When she turned 9, she was admitted to the Attached Primary School of Shanghai Conservatory of Music. At 18, she received full scholarship to France for further education in music, in where she was trained by rewarding French pianist masters Dominique Merlet and Jean François Heisser. Gu is the first Chinese pianist who received a master’s degree from Conservatoire National Supérieur de la Music de Paris. In China, she is honorably awarded as an "Outstanding New Generation Pianist".

Gu has been performing internationally in major European music festivals, including "24 Preludes of Chopin Piano Concert", "Albéniz Piano Music Concert ", "Ligeti Piano Etudes Concert" and etc. Meanwhile, Gu Jieting is also keen to be involved in philanthropy; In 2008, she was invited by the French council as a representative of outstanding young-generation musician to contribute to the charity concert"For Children with Disabilities around the World".

In 2009, Gu attracted great attention in the French classical music realm by her extraordinary performance in Debussy Recital Series. Influenced strongly from her Chinese cultural heritage, Gu interprets western piano performance from a distinguish perspective. She presents to the French audience a performance beyond the classics, it encourages the audience to indulge into a refine collision, and an alternative understanding of the original pieces. Gu's exquisite performance raised great awareness in the music and art field in Paris, France. She was honored "the envoy of the Silk Road on the black and white keys". In the same year, she teamed with Swedish genius cellist Hanne Dahlvist in a piano/cello duet performance, which was called " the most fantastic and concordant duet  in nearly a decade" by famous French cellist Michel Strauss.

In 2013, Gu was invited to return to China as a resident pianist in Shanghai Oriental Symphony Orchestra. In collaboration, she held several personal concerts and received remarkable feedbacks. Their presentation is praised "stunning performance that does not drift with the current". In 2014, Gu is awarded "Outstanding Talents of Shanghai" by Shanghai Municipal Government.

Late 2014, Gu first created "I" Fantasie, a multi-planform music theatre that combines classical piano recital with Chinese traditional Kunqu opera, breaking the boundaries between the western and the eastern cultural heritages. "I" Fantasie will have its premier in October 2016 at Shanghai Grand Theatre. 

Rencontre between Debussy and Du Liniang is the first work of Gu Jieting Studio's musical theatre series "I" Fantasie. Gu Jieting integrates piano - an instrument from the Western culture, to the Oriental heritage - Kunqu opera. Based on the two distinguish classical forms of music, Gu reveals a spectacular visual and audio feast; she interprets the Western and the Easter cultures in innovative ways, while seeking for a connection between the classics and the contemporary.

The musical theatre is divided into three sections, including piano, Kunqu opera and the screen; they visualize the dialogue beyond space and time. "I" stands not only as "oneself" but for everyone involved in the audience; as "Fantasie" tells our longing for love and dreams. While the screen brings the audience through the flowing imaginations, the gentle notes of piano blending with ancient melodies bring us back to the charming nature of our fantasies. The versatile expressions fill the performance with intension yet the journey was led with an elegant pace.