East Meets West: Dialogues Between Chinese and Western Music

And now for a change of pace.

This month, Yazhi Guo, widely considered “the best suona player in the world”, and, David Fiuczynski, Professor at Berklee College of Music, “mad musical scientist” on guitar, will be Daisy Wu’s guests at the 8th East Meets West Virtual Concert & Forum. You are invited to join the fun on Zoom Thursday, September 16, at 8 pm.

This series is organized by the Confucius Institute at Alfred University (CIAU) and co-sponsored by the AU Performing Arts Division, the Music Department of China University of Geosciences, the Almond 20th Century Club Library, the Cuba Circulating Library, the Hornell Public Library, the David A. Howe Library in Wellsville, and the Wimodaughsian Library of Canisteo.

Please visit the registration page or scan the QR code of the poster to register for this free event.

Yazhi Guo is a master of the suona, a traditional Chinese double-reed woodwind instrument with a copper bell, played somewhat like a trumpet. Guo graduated with distinction from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing in 1990 and taught suona at his alma mater for 9 years. In the 1990’s, he recorded original songs for over 100 films and popular TV series. He won many international awards, including the Grand Prize at New York’s International Pro Musicis Award in 1998. He was invited to give a solo performance with suona and saxophone for heads of state during U.S. President Clinton’s visit to Beijing.

In 1999, Guo was appointed as the Principal Suona by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. Since then, he has performed with many orchestras around the world. His brilliant and expressive performances and unique style have created many opportunities for the suona in the world of modern music. He received the Hong Kong Award for Best Artist in 2012. 

In 2012 at age 46, Guo said farewell to his highly competitive position in Hong Kong and relocated to Boston to explore jazz at Berklee College of Music. After graduating from Berklee with an Artist Diploma in 2015, he toured China with the Berklee Jazz Band, performing in many cities and colleges. The fusion-style jazz performance - suona with jazz band - is really an eye-opening experience and was well-received by Chinese and American audiences. In 2016, Guo received Thank You letters from the Mayor of Boston and the Governor of Massachusetts for excellence in cross-cultural contributions. 

Profe. David "FuZe" Fiuczynski's music is often described as unclassifiable, challenging, and invigorating. Fiuczynski leads the underground cult band Screaming Headless Torsos and has toured and/or recorded with Jack DeJohnette (Miles, Coltrane, Sun Ra, etc.), Stewart Copeland (the Police), Meshell Ndegeocello, Rudresh Mahanthappa, John Medeski, Hasidic New Wave, Bernie Worrell (P-Funk), Hiromi and many more. 

David has performed at festivals all over the world. Born in the U.S., David grew up in Germany, where he was always interested in mixing and “fuzing” different musical elements. His recent music melds traditional melodic elements from the Middle East, Asia, India, and Eastern Europe with rock, funk, electronica, and other styles. This concept started on a gig in Morocco in 1992. The Moroccan players noted that Hendrix had visited their country, and this gave FuZe an idea - hard grooves with eastern-inflected melodies putting the listener into a very colorful trance – could this be the music that Jimi would play today? Fiuczynski's band, “KiF”, celebrates a living Hendrix who’s kickin it in Casablanca and rocks the Casbah every Saturday night! 

David studied at New England Conservatory's avant-garde and experimental 3rd Stream department.  He is also a 2011 Guggenheim Fellow and 2009 & 2017 Mass Cultural Council Fellow in composition.  He directs the Planet MicroJam Institute for advanced microtonal studies at Berklee College of Music. His latest recordings are “Gerschlauer/Fiuczynski - MikroJazz”, featuring Jack DeJohnette on drums, with microtonal music inspired by Expressionist paintings, and as featured member on Giorgi Mikadze’s Georgian MicroJamz, based on the microtonal tunings of traditional folk choirs from the Republic of Georgia.