Breaking musical boundaries

A concert featuring works by an American pianist for traditional Chinese instruments is to be staged in Beijing, Chen Nan reports.

When American composer-pianist Joel Hoffman first encountered Chinese music decades ago, he found it interesting, exotic yet forbidding like a closed door. But his curiosity and need to understand has always been much stronger than the difficulty of translation.

"It's impossible to say whether the motivation is more like the wish to solve a crazy difficult puzzle or simply love.