PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — With guzhengs plucked, pipas strummed and erhus soaring in harmony, the student-led Bamboo Rhyme Chinese Music Ensemble brought the sounds of traditional Chinese music to Rhode Island at its debut spring concert. 

Held at Brown University on a moody May day in the Salomon Center for Teaching, the group performed five ensemble pieces and seven smaller programs in solo, duo, trio and quartet that spanned decades and dynasties — from a meditative solo dating back to the southern Song dynasty to a genre-bending arrangement of “City of Stars” from the 2016 Oscar-winning film, “La La Land.” 

The concert drew over 100 attendees — a excellent turnout for a first performance, said Shuang Wang, a graduate student at Brown who founded the group last fall. 

“It was a very nice addition to the campus and to student life in general, and a good opportunity to present Chinese music,” said Wang, who studies musicology and ethnomusicology. 

During Wang’s first year at Brown, she was surprised to learn that there wasn’t an established traditional Chinese music ensemble on campus. After asking around and gleaning that there was significant interest from fellow student musicians — and community members who said they’d love to see a performance — Wang decided to form one. 

But that proved challenging, as the band required instruments that one can’t easily pick up at a local music store, like a guzheng and guqin, two types of ancient plucked zithers; an erhu, a two-stringed bowed instrument; and a pipa, a pear-shaped lute. 

“It was hard in the beginning,” Wang said. “I lacked money, didn’t have enough private-owed instruments and didn’t even have a place to rehearse. So I contacted different University organizations, offices, the music department and other student organizations to promote my idea.” 

Since becoming a recognized student organization in Fall 2024, the ensemble has added 15 members from Brown and the Rhode Island School of Design, as well as one student from Berklee College of Music. The group has received two Brown Arts Institute student grants — one that Wang used to purchase instruments and another that helped fund the spring concert. 

Wang said the concert was the perfect culmination to the semester, full of highlights that made the past several months’ work all worth it — like when sophomore and erhu soloist Harrison Yang made a dramatic entrance from the back of the hall that yielded excited cheers and applause, or when the members of the ensemble gathered afterward with cards and cakes to bid farewell to its members who will graduate later this month. 

With growing interest and new recruits auditioning, Wang hopes Bamboo Rhyme will become an enduring part of Brown’s musical landscape that inspires instrumentalists of all kinds. The group welcomes anyone who’s curious — no experience necessary. 

“One of our current members started practicing erhu after she joined our ensemble through peer learning, and she’s now a key erhu player in our group,” Wang said. “But we’re also looking forward to more opportunities to collaborate with instruments from different cultures and play diverse music.”