Biography
JACKSON GUAN —
As a diversified and borderless composer, Jackson Guan is committed to creating unbounded and open-ended works. He believes that the most important thing in writing music is originality.
Jackson was born in Beijing, China. At the age of 6, he started cello lessons with Tu ZeGuang, a famous cello educator and the father of three Chinese-born cellist, including Tu Qiang who is currently a faculty member at the Manhattan School of Music. From the age of 8, Jackson started to study cello under Dr. Na MuLa, principal of the Middle School Attached to Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM) at the age of 8. Then he won the first competition of The Second “AIQINBEI" National Cello Competition. Two years later, he was admitted to the Elementary School Attached to Central Conservatory of Music with the top grade in cello performance. The following year, he performed in a special concert on the 50th anniversary of Middle School Attached to CCOM and the 62nd anniversary of Youth Class of the National Conservatory, presented by Future Star, a piece called Children of Red River.
In 2008, he entered the Middle School Attached to Central Conservatory of Music. In 2010, he participated in a music educational TV program, Music Tells You, on CCTV (Chinese National TV program) channels with his professor Mula Na. In 2015, he was admitted to the Central Conservatory of Music with excellent merits. At the end of 2017, Jackson began to learn composing by himself. At the beginning of the next year, his first work Laboring and Prospering with the Lord came out and was premiered in a Concert Hall at the Oberlin Conservatory. In 2017, he moved to the United States to continue writing. In 2018, Jackson’s orchestral work, Sinfonietta-Minuetto, was performed in Warner Concert Hall in Oberlin Conservatory, by Oberlin’s student-run orchestra.
In 2019, Xiaoyu was admitted to the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory with a high scholarship and started double-majoring in both cello performance and composition. He is currently studying cello under Prof. Michael Mermagen, and composition under Dr. Chen Yi, Charles Ives Living Award recipient, and Dr. Zhou Long, winner of Pulitzer Prize in Music.