Instrument has potential to make lasting impression on the global stage

The erhu and violin don't have much in common, except that both are stringed instruments and are played using a bow. However, for Chinese erhu player Guo Gan, the similarities between the two instruments don't end there. He says that like the violin, the erhu can be enjoyed by audiences worldwide.

Guo, 48, who started playing the erhu as a 4-year-old in Shenyang, an industrial city in Northeast China's Liaoning province, has so far released over 40 albums as a soloist and a band member in a variety of music genres, such as rock, jazz and classical music.

He has also taken the unfamiliar sounds of the ancient Chinese instrument to nearly 2,000 concerts worldwide, working with hundreds of international musicians, including French jazz violinist Didier Lockwood and Chinese pianist Lang Lang.