Hailed as one of the most exciting, innovative and respected erhu masters today, the Gemini Award nominated erhu master George Gao began studying the erhu at the age of six, a few years later, he won First Prize at the Shanghai Junior Instrumental Soloist Competition and a Silver Medal at the China National Junior Instrumental Soloist Contest in 1982. In 1985, he swept the three highest prizes of the Beijing China National Invitational erhu Competition. In 1999, He won a Recognition Award for his appearance at the 13th World Festival for Young Students in Pyongyang, North Korea.

George Gao studied at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

After winning the first prize in the Beijing National Erhu Competition, George Gao launched on a truly international performing career. He toured the US, Canada, France, Germany, Denmark, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China extensively and featured as a soloist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Taiwan National Chinese Orchestra, National Arts Center Symphony Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and I Musici etc. George Gao has also performed many recitals, including appearances at the Glenn Gould Studio, the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto), City Hall Concert Hall (Hong Kong), and the National Concert Hall (Taipei). Billions of people around the world have watched him on CCTV, China's most watched TV station.

George Gao is a hot session player, his erhu performance is frequently recorded by many world renowned composers, film, record producers. George is featured in the soundtrack for the popular science fiction television program Earth: Final Conflict, which has been nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music. George is also featured in the soundtrack for the short documentary film The Blood Of Yingzhou District, which won the Oscar for Documentary Short Subject in 2007.

An enthusiast of many musical styles, George organized the Beijing rock band Red Maple Leaf and the pop group Snowman. In Toronto, he collaborated with many world music artists including Jesse Cook, Donald Quan, Ron Korb and joined many world music ensembles such as Bowfire, Silk Orchestra, George Gao Ensemble and Memento. He has pioneered the development of new music for the erhu, fusing traditional Chinese music with jazz, Western Classical music, New Age, and other ethnic music from different world cultures.

As a composer, George Gao has composed music for many films and documentaries. He co-composed with Brian Keane for Bill Moyer's Productions/Lenon Documentary 3 part documentary film "Becoming American, the Chinese Experience". He is also a songwriter who has a few hit songs in China. He has written many erhu works including "Capriccio for Erhu", which was designated as compulsory work for the final round of the "2002 International Dragon Cup Erhu Competition" and "Erhu Capriccio No. 2 - Mongolian Fantasy", which was designated as compulsory work for the final round of the "2008 Shanghai Spring Festival International Erhu Competition".

As a guest professor of many post secondary institutions, George Gao frequently gives music master classes in prestiges music schools such as Shanghai Conservatory.


Check out @BillboardPodcasts for exclusive interviews with your favorite artists.

Unleashing sonic creativity. Shaping the future of software instruments with creative excellence.

8dio is a company specialized in advanced deep-sampling of music instruments - developed by Academy Award Winning composer, Troels Folmann. 

8Dio products are featured in the majority of current blockbusters (ex. Avatar, James Bond, Interstellar, Dark Knight Rises, Transformers, District 9), TV-shows (ex. Game of Thrones, Dexter, CSI, NCIS) and video games (ex. Overwatch, Diablo 3, Madden, Starcraft 2, Mass Effect 3, Need For Speed series) and used by many of the highest profile artists, composers and top 40 producers in the industry.

8Dio is the largest deep-sampled instrument catalogue in the world from the new generation Orchestral Products, Hybrid Scoring Tools to the best sounding Epic- and Angelic Choirs, from industry standard Epic Percussion series to beautiful Solo Voices from around the world, from gorgeous Tuned Percussion to custom made instruments.

Classical pianist and composer on nights and weekends. Digital media executive and content producer. I live in North Carolina, USA, with my wife, two dogs, and Brodmann grand piano. 

Attended Manhattan School of Music, piano performance study with Artur Balsam. Previous teachers were John Heiss, Myron Klempner, and Olga Barabini. 

I choose daily between practicing standard repertoire and composing original piano pieces. I end up doing both and recording whenever possible.

Thank you for listening!

https://akirakosemura.com/
Akira Kosemura (he/him) is a composer and pianist hailing from Tokyo, Japan. He is a prolific artist, constantly releasing solo albums and composing music for films, TV drama, games, stage, and commercial music.

Akira founded his own label Schole Records early on after his solo album It’s on Everything released in 2007 while he was still in school. In 2017 and 2018 Akira’s music was ranked in Spotify’s “Most Played Japanese Artists/Songs Top 10”, and his works have been highly acclaimed on media around the world, including US music media Pitchfork, Australian newspaper THE AGE, French public broadcast FIP, and Canadian public broadcast Ici Musique.

Akira’s major score works include Fragments of The Last Will by Takahisa Zeze, the Cannes 2020 featured film True Mothers (Asa Ga Kuru) directed by Naomi Kawase, Hollywood produced drama series Love Is__, the Nintendo Switch game Jack Jeanne produced by Sui Ishida, the TBS drama series Chugakusei Nikki, the contemporary ballet piece MANON, and the Japan Pavilion in Milano EXPO. His music pieces were also featured in the Amazon original movie Jonas Brothers’ CHASING HAPPINESS, the Venice Film Festival Golden Lion awarded director Audrey Diwan’s debut film Mais vous etes fous (Losing It), and the Toho movie Omoi, Omoware, Furi, Furare.

In recent years, he has worked on projects in different media such as SK-II STUDIO’s documentary The Center Lane (featuring Rikako Ikee), directed by Hirokazu Koreeda, the runway music for a collection from apparel brand TAKAHIROMIYASHITA The Soloist., as well as music for LA MER BLUE HEART, LAND ROVER, and L’OCCITANE. Akira has also co-produced a song with American musician Devendra Banhart.

In addition to his versatility and diverse portfolio, Akira has been working on a world scale. In 2022 he signed a contract with prestigious Decca Records, and the EP Pause (almost equal to) Play was released worldwide. Akira’s music was also sampled in John Legend’s song “The Other Ones feat. Rhapsody” included in his new album Legend Act I & II. And Akira’s first major album SEASONS was released on Decca Records (UMG) on June 30, 2023.

BakenToast is following