He Zhanhao is a composer, conductor and a professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He was a director of the Chinese Musicians’ Association for several terms, and Vice President of the Shanghai Musicians’ Association. He was a regular jurist of the China Gold Record Awards and is Head of the Guzheng Professional Appraisal Committee of the Golden Bell Awards.
In his music career of more than half a century, He has continued to search ways to “add Chinese flavour to foreign musical forms and introduce modern features to Chinese traditional music”. Some of his important compositions include the violin concerto, The Butterfly Lovers (co-written); the symphonic poem The Longhua Pagoda; A Diary of a Martyr for string quartet; the erhu concertos Farewell Grief, Love in a Chaotic World and Tears for the Heroes; The Girl Named No Sorrow Fantasia for erhu and orchestra; the guzheng concertos Sad Memories of Lin’an, The Overlord of Western Chu, and As the Peacock Flies to the Southeast; Mountains amidst Clouds for zheng and orchestra; zheng tone poem Lu You and Tang Wan; and the symphonic piece for nanyin, Chen San and Wuniang. Other important works of smaller scale include the symphonic pieces, By the Banks of Ili River and Huteng Dance Music, The Fragrance of Jasmine, Song of the Sisters for guzheng solo and the song Farewell Grief; etc.
