YOU LAN featering Bo Sung Kim

XU FENGXIA (guzheng en sanxian) (China) - GUNDA GOTTSCHALK (viool, altviool) (Germany) and guest BO SUNG KIM (percussie) (S.Korea)

The particular fascination that emanates from the playing of these two musicians lies in the fact that they do not improvise on specific themes, but rather seem to converse with their instruments about moods and feelings. The musical affinity and virtuosity of Gunda Gottschalk and Xu Feng Xia make the conversation credible and recognizable for the listener." (Kölner Stadtanzeiger) Xu Feng Xia and Gunda Gottschalk first met in 1995 as part of Peter Kowald's project "365 Days in Place". In the same year, Peter Kowald founded his core trio "Global Village" with the two musicians, with which he performed throughout Europe and the USA with many renowned guest musicians between 1995 and 2002. On the advice of their colleague and mentor Peter Kowald, Xu Feng Xia and Gunda Gottschalk also began performing as a duo. The violinist's classical European musical training and the guzheng player's traditional Chinese music studies provided an interesting starting point for a musical dialogue.

The duo You Lan (Chinese for "dark or mysterious orchid") has been performing since 1999. Xu Feng Xia and Gunda Gottschalk have enjoyed success at the Visions Festival in New York, Other Minds in San Francisco and FIMAV in Canada. Their duo CD "You Lan" was recorded live at the FIMAV Festival in Canada in 2008. Concert tours took the musicians to many European countries and regularly to China. In 2012 they organised an orchestra exchange together, inviting the 14-piece traditional orchestra of the Suzhou Conservatory to Germany. They composed for the large ensemble and performed in various cities in North Rhine-Westphalia. After their joint tour of China in 2017, they produced the album "In Memoriam Global Village" with Peter Jacquemyn. This line-up performed in Ulrichsberg in 2019. In 2023, the duo You Lan performed with Günther Baby Sommer in Peitz. In 2024, Baby Sommer invited them to perform at the Semperopera House in Dresden in honor of his 80th birthday. In 2025, their journey took them back to China, where they performed in Shanghai, Suzhou, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou in November. They had previously performed with percussionist Bo Sung Kim in 2018 as part of Baby Sommer's "Window to Jazz" series.