Zhang Hongyan, a prominent Chinese Pipa virtuoso and educator, is a Level II professor, a PhD supervisor and a member of the Academic Committee at the Central Conservatory of Music. Zhang currently serves as the dean of the Department of Traditional Chinese Music Instruments and director of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection and Research Center at the Central Conservatory of Music. Zhang is the Vice Chairperson of the Pipa Society of China Musicians Association and a former visiting scholar at Columbia University in the United States. Zhang is also a disseminator of music culture who has promoted music in Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Oceania.
Zhang is a keen and devoted public music educator. In order for more people to have access to music, she launched her “Playing Whilst Talking” lecture concert series in 2008 and also offered free lectures on music culture for ten years. Her efforts have greatly promoted the cause of social music education and contributed to the development of Chinese folk music.
