Yun-Han Su (b.1985, Taiwan) has long been dedicated to passing on traditional pipa music and combing its history. She focuses on the natural and dynamic expressions of pipa language, and actively engages in performing and exploring a variety of pipa works. Through collaborations involving different music genres and improvisations, Su has gradually developed her own unique musical depth and cultural perspectives, as well as ventured into musical composition. She reflects on the modern legacy and contexts of pipa music through ongoing accumulation of practice and repeated dialectics. She has been doing this and will continue to do so.

 

Born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Yun-Han Su began learning to play the pipa at the age of 9 with Yu-Mei Kao (aka Master Jianlu). She grew up attending music talented classes, learning to play the pipa with Yong-Bin Ji, Wen-Jie Wang, and Chieh-Ming Tu sequentially. During college years, Su veered off from the course of specialized music education to study in the Department of English at National Chengchi University. This experience gave her perspectives and thinking that distinguish her from fellow pipa players. Su began learning pipa performance with Prof. Shih-Rong Wang from college years. She was later accepted as the top candidate into the MA Program of Chinese Music Department at National Taiwan University of Arts, learning from Prof. Shi-Rong Wang and Prof. Te-Yu Shih. Afterwards, Su was accepted as the top learning to play the pipa with Yong-Bin Ji, Wen-Jie Wang, and Chieh-Ming Tu sequentially. During college years, Su veered off from the course of specialized music education to study in the Department of English at National Chengchi University. This experience gave her perspectives and thinking that distinguish her from fellow pipa players. Su began learning pipa performance with Prof. Shih-Rong Wang from college years. She was later accepted as the top candidate into the MA Program of Chinese Music Department at National Taiwan University of Arts, learning from ProfShi-Rong Wang and Prof. Te-Yu Shih. Afterwards, Su was accepted as the top candidate into the PhD program of the Department of Music at National Taiwan Normal University in 2013, and completed her doctoral study under the supervision of Prof. Chui-Kwan Lu. During her music education, Su flew to China to seek guidance from Professors Sicheng Lin, Dehai Liu, Jing Yang, and Chi-Ching Wong several times, and has been deeply affected by Prof. Tehai Liu’s artistic thinking. 

 

Yun-Han Su made her debut pipa recital at the National Recital Hall in Taiwan in 2006. Afterwards, she has given many more pipa recitals at the National Recital Hall, Zhongzheng Auditorium of Zhongshan Hall, Kaohsiung Music Hall, California State University, San Bernardino, Recital Hall of National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying), and the Odeum of NTU Center for the Arts. She premiered multiple music works, including Deqing Wen’s Xushiqu (Ballad), Timothy Roy’s Behind the Back, and Marc Battie’s I GYSIN. She joined the Taiwan-based Studio Acht’s “We Art Together Project” during 2019-2022, partaking in multiple new compositions projects. In 2020, she formed a trio CUBE BAND with fellow musicians to further explore the possibility of traditional music. She was appointed as a full-time faculty member by the Department of Traditional Music at Taipei National University of the Arts in 2021, while beginning to teach as adjunct faculty at the Department of Music,National Taiwan Normal University.

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