Zhang Hongyan is an outstanding contemporary Chinese pipa performer and educator. She is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the Central Conservatory and serves as dean of the Department of Traditional Instruments and the Cultural Heritage Protection and Research Center. She is a guest professor at the Art Institute of Beijing University, honorary academician of Beijing Normal University–Hong Kong Baptist University United International College (UIC), and director of the Central Institute of Vocational and Technical Education in China. She has also been a visiting scholar at Columbia University.

Zhang studied under Zhang Shijun, Sun Weixi, and Lin Shicheng, beginning her studies when she was seven years old. In 2011, she created a weeklong pipa festival, presenting four concerts of solo, chamber, ensemble, and concerto performances, essentially summarizing all of classical pipa music. In connection with the festival, Zhang also published a research paper, “Boat Against the Current: The Feeling of a Musician Today.” This festival and her paper were among the most important musical events at the start of the 21st century in China. Zhang, also known as Pipa Walker, has performed at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Vienna’s Golden Hall, St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo. As a soloist, she has played with world-class orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Brazilian Symphony, and Tokyo Philharmonic. In recognition of her contributions to traditional Chinese music, her album House of Flying Daggers is part of the permanent collection at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. 

Zhang founded the national orchestra of the Central Conservatory of Music, and has won many awards in China and internationally for music education, including the Yang Xuelan Music Education Award, Baosteel Education Fund Outstanding Teacher Award, and more. 

章红艳

琵琶教授

章红艳是中国当代杰出的琵琶演奏家与教育家。她是中央音乐学院教授、博士生导师，并兼任该校民族器乐系系主任及文化遗产保护与研究中心主任。她还受邀担任北京大学艺术学院客座教授，是北京师范大学—香港浸会大学联合国际学院（UIC）的荣誉院士，并担任中国职业技术教育学会中央研究院院长。此外，她也曾作为访问学者赴美国哥伦比亚大学任教。

她7岁习琴，先后师从章时钧、孙维熙、林石城先生。2011年，她首创个人音乐季，于一周内连续举行独奏、重奏、室内乐、协奏曲等四场不同形式的音乐会，所奏30余部（首）作品几乎概括中国琵琶音乐的经典之作，同时又以《逆水行舟•一个音乐家的时代感受》为题发表学术报告，堪称世纪之初中国最重要的音乐事件之一。章红艳也被誉为“琵琶行者”（Pipa Walker），曾在卡内基音乐厅、林肯中心、肯尼迪中心、柏林爱乐大厅、维也纳金色大厅、圣彼得堡马林斯基剧院、东京Suntory Hall等世界顶尖音乐厅演出。作为独奏家，她还与多家世界级乐团合作，包括巴伐利亚广播交响乐团、以色列爱乐乐团、巴西交响乐团和东京爱乐乐团。她的专辑《十面埋伏》因其对中国传统音乐做出的杰出贡献，被收录为美国华盛顿国会图书馆的永久收藏。

章红艳创立了中央音乐学院民族乐团，并因其在音乐教育领域的卓越成就，荣获包括“杨雪兰音乐教育奖”、宝钢教育基金“优秀教师奖”等多项国内外教育类奖项。