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Fran Lu

Chinese suona player Liu Wenwen has wowed the audience at the Musikverein Golden Hall in Vienna, Austria with a virtuosic performance on January 8.
Liu is China’s first doctoral degree holder in suona, a traditional Chinese double-reeded woodwind instrument, also called dida, known for its loud and high-pitched sound.
She is also a teacher at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
The 34-year-old was born into a family of folk suona players in eastern China’s Shandong province.
Her father is the 7th-generation descendant of small copper suona, and her mother the 12th-generation descendant of suona ka opera, which features using the instrument to mimic human and animal sounds.
A single child, Liu was made to study suona at the age of 4.

Liu recalled her parents waking her up every day at 4 to 5am, and “dragging” her to the nearby park to practise the instrument.
Liu said she once rejected suona because her classmates said her family “played at weddings and funerals”.
She changed her mind after listening to suona music played by Liu Ying, professor at Shanghai Conservatory of Music who later became her teacher.
Liu said she would listen to Liu Ying’s music day and night even while she was eating and asleep.
At the age of 13, via a referral, she got to meet Liu Ying, and began studying suona with him.
Liu travelled with her mother every weekend from Shandong to Shanghai.
She said her mother could only afford a seat ticket and a standing ticket on the cheapest night train and laid piles of newspapers below her seat for Liu to sleep on during the trip.
Her hard work paid off, and Liu was admitted by the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 2008.
She then studied suona teaching with professor Liu Ying for her master’s degree and continued to study suona performances for her doctoral degree. She graduated in 2023.
Liu has played solo on the international stage since 2017.
She made her debut that year at the Sydney Opera House, playing the classic suona masterpiece Hundreds of Birds Playing Homage to Phoenix with renowned Chinese-American composer and conductor Tan Dun.
Liu blended her ka opera skills into the performance and mimicked the sounds of the rooster crowing and hen laying eggs, wowing international music lovers.
She became a teacher at her college in 2018, and said she felt the urge of inheriting and passing on the suona culture to younger generations.

She expressed her wish to play on the stage while still young to promote the instrument to the wider public.
Liu had been holding solo concerts that lasted more than an hour, which was especially demanding for the suona which requires a large lung capacity.
In the past, Liu used to practise every day for 10 to 12 hours, and now with more performances and teaching tasks, Liu retains the habit of performing at least six hours a day.
She said she achieved “eight-pack abs” from practising the instrument, which she described as being “more effective than working out”.
Liu also collaborated with young composers, such as Kong Zhixuan, Chen Jiajun, to create new melodies that blend suona with other Chinese and Western instruments and music genres, such as jazz and rock.


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Hard-working musician who wows international audiences plays with best in the business, says parents ‘dragged’ her to practise in park aged 4


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