Li Ping Grand Song of Dong Art Troupe
Li Ping Grand Song of Dong Art Troupe (LPGSD) was founded in 1972 and belonged to the former Cultural Center of Li Ping Cultural Bureau. The Company has six inheritors of the Grand Song of Dong, three inheritors of Dong Pipa, one inheritor of Dong River Song, two inheritors of Dong Wrestling, and one inheritor of Dong Martial Arts. It plays an essential role in the protection, inheritance and development of Dong culture. LPGSD was approved by the State Council to be included in the first and second batches of national intangible cultural heritage in 2006 and 2008. In 2009, it was inscribed on the World Intangible Cultural Heritage List by UNESCO.
With national standard and unique ethnic style, LPGSD integrates performing arts, inheritance, research, and training. More than 20 programs, 32 people have successively won the national, provincial, and state’s creative awards, performance gold awards and comprehensive awards. LPGSD has performed worldwide, including in the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Ukraine, Russia, Austria, Oman, Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan (China), South Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong (China), Macau (China) and other countries and regions. LPGSD has participated in various programs of CCTV, performed in major national festivals, and performed for party and state leaders and foreign heads of state many times, and has been highly praised by people from all walks of life at home and abroad.
LPGSD appeared on the years 1994, 2001, 2008 and 2018 CCTV Spring Festival Gala stage and won the "Special Award" of 2001 Spring Festival Gala with "Cuckoo Spring ". The company participated in the closing ceremony of the World University Games and performed at Hong Kong "CCTV Mid-Autumn Festival in Xiangjiang" Gala in 2001. LPGSD held two successful concerts in Beijing Concert Hall in July 2002 and later the Nanjing Culture and Art Center immediately invited them to give an exceptional performance.
LPGSD was invited to Beijing Forbidden City Concert Hall to hold an exceptional performance of the Grand Song of Dong in 2003. LPGSD won silver and bronze awards in the CCTV Western Folk Song Competition and gold prize in the World Chorus Competition in 2004. In 2005, it won the 3^rd National North-South Folk Song Challenge. In 2006, it participated in the 12^th CCTV Young Singer Grand Prix, which won the “Silver Award of Original Singing” and the “Best Popularity Award”.
In March 2008, LPGSD performed in the Palace of Versailles in Paris, France. In the same year, it was invited to the National Centre for the Performing Arts twice. In July, it went to Vienna to participate in the World Chorus Competition and won the gold medal. In August, it performed in Beijing National Grand Theater for the declaration of World Intangible Heritage. During the Beijing Olympic Games, LPGSD performed more than 30 performances for Chinese and foreign guests in the National Culture Center. Afterwards, it participated in the 13^th CCTV Young Singer Grand Prix and won the bronze award in the Chorus Group. In June 2010, LPGSD was invited to perform in the Wiener Musikverein, Austria. In March 2011, it went to participate in a performance in Paris, France, and was praised by experts from various countries. The group was invited to the Salalah Art Festival in Oman in 2014, also the Thailand Cultural Tourism Festival in 2015. It was also invited by the Chinese National Orchestra to perform on the stage of the National Centre for the Performing Arts once again. In 2016, they won the gold prize of the China Folk Song Chorus Festival and participated in three TV programs of CCTV “Clear Echoes”, “Chinese Folk Songs Conference”, and “Looking for Liu Sanjie”, and went to France and Switzerland for cultural promotion activities. The company was then invited by the famous actor NING Jing to participate in the "Crossover Singer" program of Beijing TV in 2008. The same year, they won the Chinese Folk Art Peony Award and appeared on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala for the fourth time.
LPGSD performed in Hong Kong (China) and Seoul and participated in the National Day Ceremony of the Chinese Folk Song Ceremony in 2019. In 2020, Hunan, Sichuan, Gansu, Fujian government invited the company to promote the intangible cultural heritage art of the Grand Song of Dong.
 

Soprano: LI Hongmei 
LI Hongmei is a lyric soprano of China Oriental Performing Arts Group and a national first-class actress. She graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 2007 with a bachelor's degree in vocal music. Then she transferred to China Oriental Performing Arts Group in 2010, and entered the Central Conservatory of Music in 2011 to continue her master's degree in vocal song. She won such prizes as the gold medal in singing in the 29^th “April Spring Friendship Art Festival” in North Korea in 2014, first place in China at the 2012 Verdi International Vocal Competition, first place in China at the 2012 Rome Festival Art Song Competition, the excellent prize in the bel canto category at the 10^th National Vocal Competition in 2012, third place at the 15^th National Youth Singers TV Grand Prix in Henan in 2013. She won the excellence award in the bel canto group of the 7^th Vocal Competition of The Chinese Golden Bell Award for Music. In 2015, she gave a solo academic graduation concert at the Central Conservatory of Music. In 2014, she sang "Beautiful China" at the concert celebrating the 65^th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. She had performed as a soloist during Kim Jong-un (the President of the DPRK) visited China in 2018. In January 2019, she attended a state performance at the Golden Hall of the Great Hall of the People and completed the performance successfully.
 

Baritone: YUAN Guangquan
YUAN Guangquan, Doctor in bel canto, had participated in the program “Super Vocal” which was held by Hunan TV and finally received the title of “Outstanding Baritone" in the “Ultimate Show”.
Doctor YUAN graduated from the Bel Canto Performance of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where he studied under the guidance of the Director of Department of Vocal Music – Скусниченко Пётр Ильич (Russian educator, National Class-A Actor and Russian Meritorious Artist). He was the first foreign student who graduated with a full mark and was awarded the Full-Mark Graduation Certificated issued by the state. He participated in Hunan TV's "Super Vocal" and received the top ratings from SHANG Wenjie, ZHANG Huimei and LIAO Changyong for his first performance. Finally he was awarded the "Outstanding Baritone" in the "Ultimate Show".
During his studies in Russia, he won first prize in the "House of Romance" International Vocal Romance Competition, first prizes of the 1^st "Meisterwerk" International Vocal Competition and the 16^th “Romance of Autumn" International Art Festival. In 2014, he was invited by Chuvash State Theatre to perform Verdi's opera Don Carlo with Chuvash State Symphony Orchestra, and then he performed in a concert with Russian National Orchestra in the column of the "Palace of the Union" in Moscow. In 2015, he gave a concert in the hall of the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory. Since 2001, he has given concerts at the Congress Hall, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory and the Moscow Kremlin to great acclaim.
 

Percussion: GAO Xiaomin
GAO Xiaomin, is a percussionist of the China National Traditional Orchestra, a member of the Percussion Society of the Chinese Musicians Association, and a member of the Percussion Professional Committee of the China Nationalities Orchestra Society. He studied percussion since his childhood. In 2010, he was admitted to the Xinghai Conservatory of Music Middle School where he studied with Prof. HAO Bo. In 2014, he was admitted to the China Conservatory of Music with distinction, where he studied with the renowned percussionists and educators, Prof. WANG Yidong and Prof. WANG Jun. He graduated from the China Conservatory of Music in 2018. He had performed with the Huaxia Percussion Ensemble and the Huaxia National Orchestra toured England and America in 2015.
In August 2016, Xiaomin participated in the Folk Percussion Competition of the Macau International Drum Festival and won the gold prize in the professional Bangu and ensemble category, and the silver prize in the bass drum, row drum and combination category. In 2018, he was invited to participate in the composition, recording and arrangement of the national percussion part of “Mrs Jian”; in 2019, he was invited to participate in the performance of “Fighting, Youth of China”, a large-scale cultural gala to celebrate the 70^th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
He has appeared on many famous stages in China and abroad, including The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Great Hall of the People, Shanghai Oriental Art Centre, Tianjin Grand Theatre, Guangzhou Xinghai Concert Hall, Guangzhou Opera House, Beijing Concert Hall, Shanghai Concert Hall, Shenzhen Concert Hall, Changsha Concert Hall, Jiangsu Centre for the Performing Arts, Zhuhai Grand Theatre and among others.
 

Piano: ZHANG Shiyue       
ZHANG Shiyue, a young composer, pianist and conductor, was born in Liaoning in 1995 and studied piano with his parents at the age of four. In 2008, he entered the Keyboard Department of Shenyang Conservatory of Music Middle School, where he studied piano with Prof. ZHANG Dongsheng and Ukrainian pianist Vladimir Petrov. He has also studied composition and harmony theory with Prof. PIAO Ying and Prof. LIU XueYan.
In 2011, he graduated from the Shenyang Conservatory of Music Middle School with the honors of three-year full marks in piano. In 2014, he was admitted to the Central Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Prof. YE Xiaogang - the member of the National Committee for the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (NCCPPCC), the vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the chairman of Chinese Musicians Association. Since 2015, he studied piano as a second major under the guidance of Prof. YUAN Sheng, a renowned pianist from the Central Conservatory of Music.
 
Program
Overture and Part I of the Song of Cicada
Mixed Chorus: Dong Grand Choir Singing for the Beloved Party
Song for Flute: Singing a Song on the Mountain
Male Chorus: It’s Spring
Female and Male Mixed Chorus: December Labor Song
 
Instrumental Ensemble: The Happy Bachelor
Song for Shangzhong Pipa (Dong Lute): Everlasting Longing for You
Female Chorus: Cuckoo in Spring
Female Chorus: How Beautiful the Mountains Are
Song for Toasting: Welcome to Dong Village
 
Song for River Duet: The River is Melting
Song for Wood Leaf: The Friendship Will Be Always in My Heart
Song for Male and Female Duet: Strawberries are too prickly to pick
Ballad for Large Pipa (Dong Lute): The Love Story between Zhulang and Niangmei
 
Song for Hongzhou Pipa (Dong Lute): The Old Should Be Respected
Song for Niutuiqin (Dong Bracket Harp): Stars and the Moon
Song for Liudong Pipa (Dong Lute): Miss My Lover at Night
 
Song for Caitang (Singing and Dancing Ceremony of Dong): Ethnic Unity Forever
 
A Song for Party
My Motherland and I
 
(Please check program updates at the concert.)