Yazhi Guo

Suona & Wind instruments Player

2012 Hong Kong Award for Best Artist winner (Music)

In Asia, he was widely known as “THE” best Suona player.

As one of the most outstanding players in the orchestra. Yazhi has attended many important performances on behalf of the orchestra. Yazhi is a versatile and charismatic player. Apart from the Suona, he can also play more than ten instruments, including guanzi, sheng, piccolo, flute, ocarina, cucurbit flute, didgeridoo, saxophone and even ‘leaf’.

Yazhi is currently studying Jazz music in Boston. He is also  contracted soloist with the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra (HKCO), and Chairman of the Hong Kong Suona Association. He is employed by the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and the Chinese University of Hong Kong as a guest instructor, and is the examiner for the Hong Kong Arts Development Council.

Born in 1966 in Yuci, located in Shanxi province, China, Yazhi started his music lessons at age nine on the French horn. Five years later he was admitted to Jinzhong Art School in Shanxi province, where hestudied erguxian (two-stringed bowed operatic instrument) and suona. In 1986, he was enrolled at the prestigious Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, under the supervision of Professor Jiaqi Chen and Mr. Haiquan Hu, the suona maestro. In 1990, he graduated with distinction and was offered a teachingposition, eventually becoming a professor (1994) at the Central Conservatory of Music. From December 1999 to August 2011, Yazhi was the principal suona of the HKCO.

Yazhi has performed with many orchestras, including Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, South KoreaDaejeon Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Belgium’s Flanders Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Tina French Jazz Band, Central Conservatory of Music Youth Orchestra, Beijing Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Opera Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of Shanxi Province, Malaysia Chinese Orchestra, Macau Chinese Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, National Chinese Orchestra Taiwan, China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra.

Yazhi has also become well known as a pop musician. He has performed in concert with respected Hong Kong composer, Joseph Koo, singers Hackin Lee, Anthony Wong & Prudence Liew. He has appeared in the Hong Kong Film Awards, Hong Kong Golden Bauhinia Film Awards, CCTV Chinese Traditional Instruments Television Competition Award Presentation, as well as the joint television show by China, Taiwan and Hong Kong Television for the Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration, and in the 2009 CCTV’s Lantern Festival Celebration program. In 2009, he performed in the Hong Kong TVB Pearl’s program, “Applause to China”.Yazhi’s suona music is brilliant and expressive. He has developed his own unique style that has earned him a huge following, taking suona from traditional to a new and exciting contemporary art form.

Guo graduated with distinction from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing in 1990 and had lectured Suona at the Central Conservatory of Music for 9 years. He won many international awards including the Grand Prize at New York’s International Pro Musicis Award (1998). He was named by the Ministry of Culture as one of China’s most outstanding musicians,and was invited to give a solo performance with Suona and Saxophone for the heads of states during the US President Clinton’s visit in Beijing in 1998. In 90’s, he also recorded the original songs for over 100 films and popular TV series, and were followed by huge fans.

In 1999 Guo was appointed as the Principal Suona by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. Since then, he has performed with many orchestras around the world including Orchestra de la Suisse Switzerland, South Korea Daejeon Philharmonic Orchestra, Belgium’s Flanders Symphony Orchestra, Malaysia Chinese Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, National Chinese Orchestra of Taiwan, and so on. He also actively lectured in Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and led the Hong Kong Suona Association as the first executive director. His brilliant and expressive performance with a unique style has created many opportunities in the world of modern music for Suona. He received the Hong Kong Award for Best Artist in 2012.

In 2012 at age 46, Guo farewelled the highly competitive position which was held by him as a Principal Suona for 12 years in Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. He relocated to Boston for

exploring Jazz at Berklee College of Music. During studying at Berklee, he actively showcased

the uniqueness of Suona at the various occasions, successfully made the traditional Suona more fashionable and popular. After graduated from Berklee with Artist Diploma in 2015, he led the Berklee Jazz band to visit China, performed in many cities, and lectured at the colleges. The fusion-style Jazz performance - Suona with the Jazz band is really an eye-opening experience and highly received by Chinese and American audience. In 2016, Guo received Thank You letters from the Mayor of Boston and the Governor of Massachusetts for the excellence in cross-cultural contribution.

Guo is not only a multi-instrumentalist, specialized in woodwind, but he also is an innovator. He invented the flexible core of Suona, a movable reed. He received the Second-Tier Scientific Progress Award from the Ministry of Culture in China. It allows the traditional Suona to undergo a significant breakthrough in its abilities to alter modes and change sounds at any time during a live performance. It makes the Suona possible to play with the Eastern as well as the Western orchestras.

Guo currently resides in Boston with his wife and two daughters.

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