Cheng Yu is an internationally renowned pipa and guqin virtuoso and scholar. Formerly pipa soloist at the Central Orchestra of National Music in Beijing, she studied at SOAS, University of London, for her PhD on the topic of Xian’s ancient musical traditions in the modern world. This interest in the Chinese sound world through time and place continued with her re-creation of the 5-stringed pipa – a form lost since the Tang dynasty over a millennium ago – and her ongoing project, ‘lutes of the Silk Road’ which premiered in 2024.
Since coming to the UK Cheng Yu has performed at various prestigious venues and with artists such as Lang Lang, Damon Albarn, Tan Dun, and Gabriel Prokofiev. In recent years she has performed at festivals such as WOMAD, China Now and MAG (Granada), Lancaster Music, and given concerts at venues such as the Conservatorio Guiseppe Verdi (Turin), the National Palace of Maura (Lisbon), the Luxembourg Philharmonique, the British Museum, and with the Third Orchestra in London’s Grand Junction. She is the founder of the award-winning Silk String Quartet, founder and Chair of the London Youlan Qin Society which is now in its second decade, and established the annual ‘London International Chinese Music Festival’. She is a committee member of the International Chinese Music Coalition.
Cheng Yu has published four solo albums and many cross-cultural collaborations with labels such as Realworld, ARC, Universal and EMI. She enjoys both the classical and contemporary Chinese repertoire, cross-cultural collaborations, and developing new music for her five-string pipa.