Ensemble gives cellists an intimate voice

Before Chu Yi-bing led his cello ensemble in a concert on a recent rainy night in Beijing to celebrate the emsemble's 10th anniversary, he presented a bowl of soup to each member of the audience first.

The soup was made of red bean and dried tangerine peel, simmered for over two hours. While ladling out soup for everyone, Chu, the 48-year-old former principal cellist in the Basel Symphony Orchestra and now head of the Central Conservatory of Music's cello department, says that the music of his ensemble - Chu Yi-bing Cello Ensemble - is just like soup.

"It must be cooking day and night, whether guests are coming or not," he says.