Music of Today: Wu Wei (sheng) - Artist Portrait

An ancient Chinese musical instrument is put in new musical contexts in this fascinating programme for sheng and orchestral ensemble.

Virtuoso Wu Wei has made the Sheng - an ancient Chinese wind instrument - into an innovative force in contemporary music that crosses traditional genre boundaries. In this special Music of Today performance in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, he performs three contrasting works for sheng and orchestral ensemble with the Philharmonia.

Finnish composer Jukka Tiensuu's Hehkuu exploits the different properties of the sheng all the way from shimmering sonorities to high voltage rhythms; Guoping Jia's The wind sounds in the sky fuses traditional Chinese music with elements of Western classical composition.

The programme culminates with a new piece for sheng and ensemble by Czech composer Ondrej Adámek, whose music was described by Ivan Hewett in The Telegraph as "sharp, brilliant". Adamek's highly theatrical music and innovative musical language will create new an entirely new context for sheng and orchestral ensemble.

Ondrej Adámek's New work for sheng and ensemble is jointly commissioned by Philharmonia Orchestra, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Ensemble 2e2m, Asko Ensemble.