Click here for the Chinese version

“Guqin and Bubble Tea” Concert

 – Dr. Mingmei Yip and Her Students

Is it possible that the ancient qin and the very modern bubble tea can go together? 

Dr. Mingmei Yip’s qin piece, Bubble Tea Fantasy, was inspired unexpectedly. This  March the New York Guqin Society held an elegant gathering hosted by Ashley Li at her beautiful apartment. Mingyue Zhang brought bubble tea for Dr. Yip and her students -- different flavors including mocha, red been, tarot and black sugar. Dr. Yip tasted all and found each absolutely wonderful, like heavenly dews! So she decided to write an eulogy for this divine taste.  

Back home, Dr. Yip posted this idea on Wechat and got enthusiastic responses encouraging her to compose the Bubble Tea Variations. As if aided by some higher force, she finished the draft that same evening. Hope you, the audience, like this new qin piece! Perhaps you can even detect the different bubble tea flavors and imagine how it was made.  

Traditional and modern Qin pieces will also include Three Variations of the Plum Blossom, accompanied by a very special flower arrangement. Six lucky people will be able to enjoy free tasting of bubble tea drinks!   

Program:  

Brook Flowing over Rocks, from Compendium of Qin Studies 1910-1923, Qin: Lucy Xue 

Three Variations of the Yang Pass, from Antiquity Qin Handbook, Qin: Hezhen Li 

A Pleasant Evening, from Hearing Heaven Pavilion Qin Handbook 1876, Qin: Yi Qian

Drinking Spree, from Spiritual and Marvelous Mysterious Qin Handbook 1425,Qin: Mingmei Yip 

Intermission

Four Seasons, from Compendium of Qin Studies 1910-1923, Qin: Xiaoning Wu     

Dragons Roar in the Turquoise Sea, from Harmonious Sound Qin Handbook, 1821, Qin:  Ashley Li

Water Immortal, from Yinyin Studio Qin Handbook, Qin: Ruomeng Cui

Three Variations of the Plum Blossom, from Spring Grass Pavilion Qin Handbook 1744, Qin: Mingmei Yip, Flower Arrangement (Ikenana School): Yi Zhang

Flowing Water, from Hearing Heaven Pavilion Qin Handbook 1876, Qin: Mingmei Yip

Bubble Tea Variation by Mingmei Yip, 2019

Mingmei Yip, PhD in musicology from the University of Paris (Sorbonne) on a scholarship from the French Government. A master performer on the Qin, she has given lectures and performances at venues such as Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall, New York Philharmonic, Columbia University, Oxford University, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Beijing University, the University of Paris, Amsterdam University, Oberlin Conservatory, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the China Institute in New York. Mingmei has served as consultant for Beijing’s Chinese Qin Association, director for Chinese Kun Opera and Guqin Research Association, artistic consultant for New York Cultural Art Association, as well as on the academic board of the Chengdu International Qin Conference.

Also a writer, Mingmei’s literary career began at fourteen when her essay about art was published in a literary magazine.  She has published fourteen books, with two on the qin. Her latest being her 7th novel The Witch’s Market (Kensington Books) which received a glowing review from the New York Times and her 2nd children’s book Grandma Panda’s China Storybook  (Tuttle Publishing, 2014) which she both wrote and illustrated. She wrote columns for seven major newspapers and has appeared on over 50 TV and radio programs in Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, and the United States. Her poems were published and performed in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the U.S.

Mingmei is also accomplished as a painter and calligrapher. A one-person show of her paintings of Guan Yin (the Chinese Goddess of Compassion) and calligraphy was held at the New York Open Center Gallery in SoHo in 2002. This exhibit was the subject of a full hour special program on CHN cable in New Jersey.

Mingmei was a professor of music in Hong Kong, and in 2005, an International Institute of Asian Studies fellow in Holland. She has taught qin playing and calligraphy at two major Hong Kong Universities.

Books on the Qin by Mingmei Yip: 

Guqin Music and Art, Commercial Press

Guqin Music and Chinese Culture, Chonghua Bookstore

Qin: Musical Transmission of the Dao (chapter), Oxford University Press

Contact Mingmei at: mingmeiyip@aol.com

Mingmei’s website: www.mingmeiyip.com,www.newyorkguqin.com