Chen Gang (composer)

{{Short description|Chinese composer}}

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Chen Gang ({{zh|s=陈钢|p=Chén Gāng}}; born 10 March 1935) is a Chinese composer best known for his work Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto.{{Cite web |title=Gang Chen- Bio, Albums, Pictures |url=https://www.naxos.com/person/Gang_Chen/22573.htm |access-date=2024-05-08 |website=naxos.com |publisher=Naxos Classical Music}}{{Cite web |title=Butterfly lovers' timeless tale |url=https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/html5/2024-05/06/content_007_6637f0d5ed50dde094231c4e.htm |access-date=2024-05-08 |website=mobile.chinadaily.com.cn}}{{Cite web |date=2021-01-08 |title=The Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto (1959) |url=https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5277&context=thesesdissertations |access-date=2024-05-08 |website=digitalscholarship.unlv.edu}} He is the son of songwriter Chen Gexin. Chen Gang started to learn piano and composition from his father and music teachers from a young age.

From 1955 to 1959, Chen Gang was a student at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, studying composition. In 1959, Chen Gang, together with another student, He Zhanhao, composed the violin concerto Butterfly Lovers.

The violin concerto won five Golden Record prizes as well as a Platinum Record prize.{{Cite web |title=Chen Gang |url=https://www.kroma.fi/butterflylovers/ENG/chen_gang.html#:~:text=The%20violin%20concerto%20became%20one,the%20Shanghai%20Conservatory%20of%20Music. |access-date=2024-05-08 |website=www.kroma.fi}} The Concerto has also achieved enormous international success. Chen is a professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

In his composition career, he composed and recomposed many classics in China, including Butterfly Lovers, Miaolin's Morning, and The Golden Steel Smelting Furnace. He also composed a virtuoso violin solo piece: Sunshine in Tashkurgan, which is frequently performed in China.{{Cite web |title=Gang Chen - Concerts, Biography & News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/df2ab354-ff8d-45e0-a362-9253419b7b17 |access-date=2018-03-31 |website=BBC Music |language=en-GB}}{{Dead link|date=July 2021|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}