Weng Zhenfa

Weng Zhenfa is a famous sheng artist in China, currently a member of the Chinese Musicians’ Association, Vice President of the China Sheng Association, and visiting professor of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Shanghai Theatre Academy and the Shanghai Normal University Music College. He is also the Deputy Company Director of the Shanghai Feiyun Chinese Orchestra. 

In the 1980’s, he proposed the remodeling of the sheng and, together with Mou Shanping, developed 37-reed, semitone keyed version, which resolved the problem of “one player performing with more than one sheng”. The new model can play set tunes in Chinese folk music as well as modern works and Western music. It was therefore hailed as the “number one sheng for solo performance in China”. It won a Class Three Technology Advancement Award from the Ministry of Culture, China.

Weng has toured many countries and regions all over the world. He won critical acclaim with his solo recital tour in Germany, and a critic described his performance in these words: “The world-class sheng virtuoso used an instrument that is truly exotic to the Western audience. It is amazing to see how the sheng can embody such beautifully rich tone colours in one small, single instrument.”