China Venture Fund Grant

Dr. Steven Friedson, University Distinguished Research Professor, and Yuxin Mei, Director of the UNT Chinese Ensemble, received a China Venture Fund Grant to travel to China in Summer 2018 to recruit graduate students in ethnomusicology, investigate potential sites for research, and to scope out venues for a tour of the UNT Chinese Ensemble to China. They will be visiting the China Conservatory of Music, Beijing; Xi’an Conservatory of Music; and the Xing Hai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou.

The College of Music, under the auspices of the Ethnomusicology Area, initiated the first Chinese Music Ensemble at a Texas university in 2015. Directed by internationally acclaimed pipa (Chinese lute) artist, Yuxin Mei, the ensemble has recently been the recipient of a $25,000 grant, which funded the purchase of high quality, professional Chinese instruments, making the UNT Chinese Ensemble arguably the best equipped ensemble in the United States. As evidence of their growing national stature, the ensemble has been invited to play at the Confucius Institute of Denver for the Chinese New Year celebration in February 2018, and was honored to receive an invitation to participate in the prestigious "China West Lake International Youth Music Festival” in China.