No Borders

Classical Guitarist Xuefei Yang Channels Bream, Bach, and Her Ancestors

- Mark C. Davis

AT THE BEGINNING OF A CONCERT IN SAN FRANCISCO, Xuefei Yang dazzled the crowd by performing the Bach Lute Suite BWV 995 on a 7-string guitar. She departed the stage and returned with a 6-string she had only been playing for two days, as it was slated to be raffled off to benefit a local classical guitar series. Then, she continued to delight the audience with a repertoire of Chinese and Brazilian music. Whether tackling different styles, or playing unfamiliar instruments, Yang appears to have no fear.

This is documented further on her recent CD, Songs from Our Ancestors [Globe Music], where Yang interprets songs not only from her Chinese ancestors, but also from the repertoire of legendary guitarist Julian Bream. Listen to her performance of Bream’s arrangement of “Gloriana, Op. 53: The Second Lute Song of the Earl of Essex” by Benjamin Britten, and you will understand why Yang was chosen to perform when Bream was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2013 Gramophone Awards in London. More recently, Yang was honored in Guitar Player’s May 2017 cover story as one of the magazine’s “50 Sensational Female Guitarists.”

I was very impressed with the Chinese pieces on Songs from Our Ancestors.