Artist Profiles: Min Xiao-Fen

Min Xiao-Fen is a virtuoso on the pipa. She was a pipa soloist for the Nanjing, National Music Orchestra, and was winner of numerous Pipa competitions throughout China.

Known for her virtuosity and fluid style, she has received acclaim for her classical, contemporary, and Jazz performances. Min’s solo recording, The Moon Rising, was hailed by BBC Music Magazine as one of the best CDs of 1996. Her recording Viper – Improvisations with Derek Bailey was one of the Wire’s albums of the Year in 1998. She also premiered Tan Dun’s Peony Pavilion, an opera with director Peter Sellars.

Min migrated to the United States in 1992.

In 2023, the Smithsonian Institution commissioned Min Xiao-Fen to create original soundtracks for two historic Chinese silent films from the 1920s: “Romance of the Fruit Peddler” and “Romance of the Western Chamber.” Xiao-Fen created Metta, a set of cinematic scores featuring herself on various musical instruments, including pipa, ruan, sanxian, finger piano, sound effects, and vocals, accompanied by percussionist River Guerguerian.

Discography:

The Moon Rising (Cala, 1996)
Spring River Flower Moon Night (Asphodel Records, 1997)
Zhou, L.: 8 Chinese Folk Songs / Poems From Tang / Soul (The Flowing Stream – Chinese Folk Songs and Tone Poems) (Delos, 1998)
With Six Composers (Avant, 1998)
The Floating Box (New World Records, 2005)
Huang, Ruo: Drama Theater Nos. 2-4 / String Quartet No. 1, “The 3 Tenses” (Naxos, 2009)
Dim Sum (Blue Pipa, 2012)
Mao, Monk and Me (2017)
Metta (Asian Improv Records, 2024)

Author: Angel Romero

Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.