LIU Sola & Friends Ensemble

The Monkey King, a mythological figure that continues to influence Chinese youth has been adapted in countless works of literature and art. Among those works the 1961 animated film “The Palace of Heaven " has become a classic in the style of traditional Chinese opera. The composer Liu Sola used the cartoon as the basis for a large-scale multimedia concert reflecting the spirit of today's young people. The overall structure of the work borrows the concept of Chinese music, and as the story unfolds, new musical motifs are introduced. The work focuses on the narrative and fun of traditional Chinese music styles, and is not bound to the structure of Western music composition forms, like a joyful birthday dance with contemporary music styles full of Chinese rhythms.




In celebration of life, after a serious illness, Sora Liu accepted an invitation, from the Beijing International Music Festival and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, to compose a work about the Sage Monkey King. This traditional animated film inspired her to create a suite of orchestral dance music for young people with traditional Chinese rythms, feeling the connection between traditional Chinese folk rhythms and contemporary spirituality in the rhythms.






The whole work is divided into nine sections, with a total duration of one hour.

1, The Handsome Monkey King on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits.
2. Obtaining the Gold-Banded Staff at the East Sea
3. The official title of the Keeper of the Heavenly Horses
4. The God of the Giant Spirit and Nezha Fight the Monkey King
5. The Seven Fairies Transition Entr'acte: The Seven Fairies
6. Debates in the Heavenly Peach Garden Debates in the Heavenly Peach Garden
7. Drunken Monkey Stealing Pills of Immortality at the Peach Festival
8. Gods Are Sent to Capture the Monkey King Who Defies the Heavens
9. The Monkey King as the Great Sage with Golden Gaze

The piece is performed by the “Liu Sola & Friends Ensemble” in association with the “ Shanghai Symphony Orchestra”.

Each member of the “Liu Sola & Friends Ensemble” is known for his or her individu-ality and ability to play solo with a strong sense of improvisation on the basis of an acurate performance of the score, adding energy and vitality to the musical atmosphere of the stage.

For example : Liu Yijun uses the guitar to imitate the sound of the pipa and the guqin. Zhang Yangsheng's Chinese percussion demonstrates the ultimate in ancient Chinese virtuosity.
Cheng Yuyu's pipa solo is flexible and precise and challenges the spectator with a variety of new timbres.

The band's Chinese drumline is a collection of outstanding young Chinese percussionists who, after a long period of collaboration and training, have demonstrated not only their virtuosity , but also the vibrant energy of the young percussionists of this era.

This band has been a high profile band at major festivals around the world.






In contrast to the usual lyrical classical soundscape , the opening of “The Legend of the Great Sage” has a more robust, contemporary character, beginning with a rhythmically clean, full-bodied percussion section. The drums are handled very cleanly, with clear intervals between them, and there is a sense of spaciousness and power that comes through. As the big screen gradually pushes the camera closer to the colorful Mountain of Flowers and Fruits, the percussion sounds in the ears.

“The simple call and response of the musicians to the rhythm of their hands. Again the simplicity and clarity of the performance effectively set the tone and style of the show: dynamic , capturing the legendary aspects of the classic tale, energetic images of battles, and a fighting spirit that never wilts. Whether it's the Monkey King of the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits in the opening scene, or the fiery-eyed Sun Da Sheng leaping out of the alchemy furnace at the end, the nine movements rise and fall like the waves of the deep sea, with a great deal of fighting and battling going on.”

In The North Youth Arts Review by Junlei NNHR.






Liu Sola, Music Composer, author. Born in Beijing. Graduated from the Composition Department of China’s Central Conservatory of Music. Studied under Mr. Du Mingxin. Lived in London and New York, now lives in Beijing.

Her musical works include opera and a large number of film and television music, orchestra, dance music, vocal art and a large number of folk music composite band works.

Her album “Blues in the East”, distributed by PolyGram Records USA, entered the top ten of the music charts in the UK and the US. Her other best known albums are “Chinese Collage”, “Tangled”, “June Snow”, “Tiger and Rabbit Shake”, etc.

She also composed a large-scale chamber music opera “Frightened Dreams”. Composition, libretto, and music by Liu Sola who also performed as a member of the “Liu Sola & Friends Ensemble” that premiered the piece with the Danish Vocal Theater.

The “Liu Sola and Friends Ensemble” was, founded by Liu Sola. It toured Europe and China to great acclaim, and frequently performed in Liu Sola’s film, television, and theater productions.

Liu Sola’s literary works include novels, essays and opera libretti for which she won many awards such as the “National Outstanding Middle Grade Novel Award”. Her works have also topped various literary lists, with translations into English, French, Italian, German and Japanese.

Her most representative works include novels such as “You Have No Choice”, “Mixed Tunjali”, “Maiden Soup” and “Spell of Obsession”.

Liu Sola has curated several international music festivals and international master class lectures. She was a member of the International Advisory Group of the World Culture House in Germany.

Her solo exhibition of sheet music design premiered at Tokyo Gallery in Beijing in 2017 and she participated in various exhibitions of her visual and sound art creations in China and abroad.

Winner of the Private Art Museum Meta-Code Exhibition Award.

“Liu Sola & Friends Ensemble: Introduction.

The “Liu Sola & Friends Ensemble” is internationally acclaimed and comprises over a dozen of the finest and most talented musicians in the world. The Ensemble has been recognized by the British professional community as one of the top world music bands in the world and has been described internationally as "Chinese psychedelia".

Its predecessor was “Sola & Friends”, a band formed in 1997 in New York City by a voluntary group of renowned soloists of different nationalities. The original members were: New York’s jazz pianist Amina C. Myers, bass player and producer Fernando Sounders, drummer Pheeroan aKlaff and other famous jazz-rock musicians.

The “Sola & Friends” was a Sino-American joint band founded in 2002 with the direct support of the World Culture House in Germany. The band consised of elite Chinese folk musicians, led by Li Zhengui, and original American musicians.

The band's world premiere in Berlin in 2003 was highly praised by the major German media, with the Süddeutsche Zeitung claiming that "Liu Sola does not surrender to Western classical and pop music" and that "such globalization can’t be ignored by the West".

Since 2005, Liu Sola has been building up “Liu Sola & Friends Ensemble”, aiming to emphasize the new image of Chinese folk music. The ensemble has been touring in the West with the Chinese Folk Orchestra, and the media has given it rave reviews. The Ensemble has also been featured in many major music festivals in the West.

The ensemble performed multiple times with world renowned orchestras and master artists. It for example played Liu’s large-scale modern chamber opera "A Dream of Fright" with the German “Ensemble Moderne” in collaboration with the African koffi koko dance company, the award-winning Chinese dance drama "JUE", and renowned jazz musicians in the United States, to name a few. The band was also a regular participant in Sola Liu's film and music recordings.

Since 2012, the ensemble has been enriched by the addition of renowned Chinese guitarist Liu Yijun, and in 2015 by the addition of Danish percussionist Gert Mortensen. The band continues to seek collaboration with outstanding musicians from around the world…

“The simple call and response of the musicians to the rhythm of their hands. Again the simplicity and clarity of the performance effectively set the tone and style of the show: dynamic , capturing the legendary aspects of the classic tale, energetic images of battles, and a fighting spirit that never wilts. Whether it's the Monkey King of the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits in the opening scene, or the fiery-eyed Sun Da Sheng leaping out of the alchemy furnace at the end, the nine movements rise and fall like the waves of the deep sea, with a great deal of fighting and battling going on.”