About
us
3peoplemusic, a creative trio of three traditional Chinese instrument musicians – guzheng artist KUO Jing-mu, zhongruan player PAN I-tung, and dizi/xiao performer JEN Chung – is a unique chamber music ensemble that combines expertise in the classical Chinese music with contemporary perspectives. With their outstanding performing skills, richly diverse and refined notes, and a repertoire encompassing a variety of styles and genres, the trio freely roams from improvisation to cross-genre performances, and from contemporary works to world music. Their performances transcend the gaps of generations and the barriers of borders in its demonstration of the bountiful versatility of traditional music and instruments.
In 2016, 3peoplemusic released its first same-name album, which was nominated next year in the 28th Golden Melody Awards for Traditional Arts and Music. The second album "Change" won the Best Crossover Album in the 33th Golden Melody Awards for Traditional Arts and Music in 2022. The newest album "Catalysis: Fusion of Senses" was nominated in the 34th Golden Melody Awards for Traditional Arts and Music in 2023.
Representing the voice of Taiwan's new generation, the trio have toured in Japan, South Korea, India, Germany and other countries.
Landmarks
-November 2023: Performed at the National Taiwan University of Arts' Concert Hall for the Daguan International Arts Festival Island Voices.
-November 2023: Played the 3peoplemusic Tenth Anniversary Concert at the Odeum (Ya Song Fang) in National Taiwan University (NTU).
-October 2023: Invited to participate in Poetry and Song: A Dialogue Between Tea and Music.
-October 2023: Invited to participate in Wind Music's World Music Festival.
-October 2023: Gave the opening performance at C-LAB Taiwan Sound Lab 2023.
-June 2022: Participated at the Organ Donation Thank You Concert.
-September 2022: Performed at Chiayi Performing Arts Center as part of the Chiayi Traditional Music Festival.
-June 2022: Performed at Yilan’s National Center for Traditional Arts for the 2022 Loud Music Festival.
-June 2022: Invited by the National Theater & Concert Hall (NTCH) to take part in the 2022 IDEAS Lab, producing Catalysis: Fusion of Senses - 3peoplemusic x String Quartet x Li Hao x Lin Chunhui.
-December 2021: Released the new album Change at the Authentic Playground theatre.
-November 2021: Invited by the Trend Education Foundation to perform a concert at the Central National Library’s Multipurpose Performance Hall for Authentic Playground at the Central National Library.
-August 2021: Participated in the Hsinchu Chinese Music Festival at Hsinchu Performing Arts Center.
-May 2021: Invited to the National Center for Traditional Arts in Yilan for the 2021 Loud Music Festival.
-November 2020: Invited by Wind Music to perform at the Hakka Music Festival at Huashan 1914 Creative Park.
-November 2020: Performed at Lee Teng-fan's Ancient Residence.
-August 2020: Performed at Taichung City Seaport Art Center.
-June 2020: Invited by Canada’s Sound of Dragon Society to perform for the Dragon Boat Festival in Canada.
Landmarks
-February 2020: Co-produced a program with Le Phénix, a nationally accredited theatre in France, collaborating with the renowned contemporary string music ensemble Tana Quartet.
-July 2019: Invited to be part of IDEAS Lab 2019 at NTCH, producing Misreading Sounds - 3peoplemusic x Xu Wei-En.
-April 2019: Invited to play at the Spring Festival in Tokyo 2019.
-September 2018: Invited by the Sakurazaka Theatre in Okinawa, Japan, to hold a special concert and workshop as part of Crossing World Music at Sukiyaki Okinawa 2018.
-August 2018: Invited by 13-Month Beijing to perform Summer 2018 New Music Festival in Yangzhou.
-March 2018: Performed 3X3 Project: Abnormal Echoes at NTCH’s invitation as part of the 2018 Taiwan International Festival of Arts (TIFA).
-September 2017: Performed at the Jeonju International Sori Festival (JISF) in South Korea.
-July 2017: Performed at the Schlitzerländer Trachtenfest Folk Dance and Music Festival in Schlitz, Germany.
-May 2017: Performed at the Taipei Traditional Arts Festival in Taipei.
-April 2017: Performed at the Taiwan International Music Festival event Sound Journey: From Taiwan to Hungary.
-December 2016: Annual concert: One Two Three, How Many People?
-November 2016: Participated in the Delhi International Arts Festival (DIAF) in New Delhi, India.
-November 2016: Performed for Formosa Excursions: Soundscape of Taiwan, part of Taiwan Month at Hong Kong University.
-May 2016: Performed Folk Tune Variations: 3peoplemusic and Mystery Guests for the NTCH Chamber Music Series.
Landmarks
-April 2016: Selected for the Taiwan Music Institute at the National Center for Traditional Arts’ Musical Talent Cultivation - Master, Apprentice and Partner Program.
-November 2015: Annual concert: 3peoplemusic: Let’s Go Crazy.
-September 2015: Participated in Shanghai Bandu Music’s First Bandu Music Festival: Ruan in Shanghai.
August 2015: Participated in the Hakodate International Folk Art Festival in Hokkaido, Japan.
KUO Jing-Mu / Guzheng
Leader
KUO Jing-mu hails from Yilan in Taiwan. He graduated from National Taiwan University of Arts (NTUA) with an MA in Chinese Music, studying guzheng (plucked zither) under Professor CHANG Li-Chiung. He is a lecturer in the Department of Chinese Music at NTUA, the leader of 3peoplemusic, and a member of the C-Camerata. He has won numerous national guzheng competitions since a young age and has dedicated the last few years to further exploration of the guzheng repertoire, immersing himself in contemporary music performance to probe the relationship between himself, guzheng music, and today’s world.
Between 2017 and 2019, he organized three guzheng concerts on the theme of new music entitled New Perspectives on the Guzheng. Jing-mu has also published a number of compositions including Fern, a piece for Chinese orchestra that was selected for the IRC International Composers' Broadcasting Conference in 2019, and the orchestral work So This World Is Still Here, which won an award at the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra’s 2018 Youth Composition Competition. His composition for Chinese orchestra Elegy won first place at the Taipei Chinese Orchestra’s Boundless Thoughts - 2016 Taipei Chinese Orchestra (TCO) International Composition Competition in 2016. In 2015, he independently released and produced the album Nature - For Seven-String Zither, which was nominated for Best Crossover Music Album at the Golden Melody Awards, and was followed by his second album The Mountain in 2020. In 2022, he compiled a collection of contemporary works for guzheng entitled New Perspectives on the Guzheng. In 2023, he produced the Waterfall, a concert for solo guzheng, as well as commissioning and premiering five contemporary pieces for solo guzheng and ensembles.
JEN CHUNg / Dizi and Xiao
Musical Director
A native of Taipei, Taiwan, JEN Chung is a dizi player, composer, and pianist. He is a doctoral student of interdisciplinary art studies at National Taiwan University of Arts and specializes in dizi and piano, as well as studying composition theory and conducting.
A regular winner at major music competitions across Taiwan since an early age, Ren won first place with distinction at the child, young person, high school, college and adult levels of the Chinese Music Society’s dizi section, as well as the Huang Zhong Award. He is currently the musical director of 3peoplemusic and teaches at National Taiwan University of Arts, Chinese Culture University, and National Taiwan College of Performing Arts. As a dizi performer, he has collaborated with celebrated conductors including LEE Che-Yi, HSU Ching-Hsin, and CHIANG Chih-I, and frequently receives commissions to create works for institutions such as the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Taipei Chinese Orchestra, Kaohsiung Chinese Orchestra, Taoyuan Chinese Orchestra, Tainan Chinese Orchestra, the Department of Chinese Music at National Taiwan University of Arts, and the Chinese Music Association of Taiwan. He has collaborated with conductors including KUO Lien-Chang, Lin LIAO, WONG Cheng-Ping, KUO Che-Chen, YEH Ho-Chung, HUANG Kuang-Yu, CHEN Chih-Sheng, CHIU Chun-Chiang, and Felix CHEN on publications and releases. His compositions, which have been the subject of academic theses, include the dizi concerto Year by Year, the erhu concerto Island Festival, the musical theater piece Tower of Babel: Reclaiming the Heart of the Brave, and the yangqin and piano duet Night Falls.
PAN Yi-Tong / Ruan
Music Producer
Ruan player and producer for 3peoplemusic, PAN Yi-Tong is also a part-time teacher in the Department of Chinese Music at Chinese Culture University. She has dedicated herself to ruan (Chinese lute) performance and composition over recent years, and in 2012 was recognized as an emerging talent in traditional instrumental music by the National Performing Arts Center at the National Theater & Concert Hall (NTCH). In 2007, she won the Star of the South prize and took first place in the college level ruan section of the Taiwan Music Competition, before going on to win first place in the youth level ruan section Taiwan Music Competition in 2005; she also won first place in the youth level ruan section of the Taiwan Plucked String Instrument Competition in both 2002 and 2004.
In April 2012, she performed LIU Xing’s concerto A Single Flower Admires Itself with the National Chinese Orchestra Taiwan at the Chiang Wei-Shui Theater in Yilan, while in May the same year, she took part in the highly acclaimed 2012 Rising Stars of Traditional Instrumental Music concert organized by NTCH, which featured both PAN Yi-Tong and KUO Jing-mu. In July, she joined the group A Moving Sound at Britain’s WOMAD Music and Arts Festival, as well as performing the solo piece Mountain Song on the BBC Radio 3 Stage. In May 2013, she performed LIU Xing’s Memories of Yunnan with the Taiwan Philharmonic Chinese Orchestra, and in 2014, she performed SUI Li-Jun’s Masked Bonfire Dance with the Hsinchu Municipal Chinese Classical Orchestra. In 2017, she gave a recital of compositions for solo zhongruan (tenor ruan) sponsored by the National Culture and Arts Foundation (NCAF), and in December the same year, she reprised her performance of Memories of Yunnan, this time backed by Hsinchu Municipal Chinese Classical Orchestra. In 2021, she performed LIU Xing’s Second Zhongruan Concerto with the TCO Academy Orchestra. In March 2023, she performed Yue by Ren Zhong with Taoyuan Chinese Orchestra, while in April, she gave a solo recital based on the concept of “allowing the ruan to speak with greater ambition”, sponsored by the National Culture and Arts Foundation.
The sheet music for Yi-Tong’s zhongruan compositions Red Felt and Midnight Reverie has been published by Taipei Chinese Orchestra.
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