On the evening of 19 March, a concert dedicated to the teaching legacy of renowned composer Ye Xiaogang took place at the Concert Hall of the School of Music at Chinese University of Hong Kong Shenzhen School of Music.
Titled Ye Xiaogang Pedagogical Legacy Concert, the event brought together thirteen works by Ye and nine fellow composers, performed in a continuous programme without intermission. Eighteen leading instrumentalists and singers took part, presenting a wide-ranging repertoire that spanned nearly four decades. The earliest work dated back to 1986, while seven pieces were newly written between 2025 and 2026.
A full house - including both music professionals and members of the public - reflected strong interest in the programme. Together, the works offered a glimpse into Ye’s musical aesthetics, while highlighting the striking diversity and evolving voices of his students.
Best known internationally as a composer, Ye has also spent decades as an influential educator, holding senior academic positions at leading institutions across China. Yet much of his teaching career has unfolded behind the closed doors of classrooms and studios, rarely visible to the wider public.
This concert offered a rare opportunity to bring that side of his work into focus.
Speaking after the performance, Ye expressed both satisfaction and a sense of continuity. “Some of the students represented here date back to the 1980s, while others are studying with me now,” he said. “Seeing their growth and the level they have reached is deeply rewarding.”
As founding dean of the music school at CUHK-Shenzhen, he also pointed to the significance of the occasion for the institution. “To see friends and colleagues come from across the country to support this concert - and to witness what the school has achieved today - I feel my efforts have not been in vain.”
For three composers whose works were featured in the concert - Liu Chenchen, Wu Ruoxuan and Liu Xinlong - Ye’s influence extends far beyond technique.
Liu Chenchen, who studied composition and piano under Ye at the Central Conservatory of Music in 1999, described the experience as formative in ways that continue to resonate decades later. “It has been more than twenty years since I left school,” he said, “but this concert brought back vivid memories of those lessons.”
What stayed with him most, he noted, was not only the training in compositional craft, but a deeper shaping of artistic judgement. “Professor Ye’s teaching is highly focused and effective. Beyond technique, he refined my sense of musical and artistic aesthetics.”
Wu Ruoxuan, a third-year undergraduate at CUHK-Shenzhen, emphasised the intensity of Ye’s teaching in the present day. In his classes, students bring in their own works for critique - a process she described as both demanding and transformative.
For Liu Xinlong, currently a second-year doctoral student in composition, the experience of working with Ye came relatively recently. His featured piece was the first he developed under Ye’s guidance after beginning lessons in September last year.
That process, he said, was both rigorous and collaborative, rooted in close, detail-oriented feedback.
Across generations, a consistent thread emerges: Ye encourages individuality. Rather than imposing a fixed style, he pushes students to explore their own musical language, while guiding them with precision.
