Xuefei Yang Essentials

Born in 1977, shortly after China’s Cultural Revolution faded, Xuefei Yang emerged as a pioneer in her homeland, becoming the first guitarist to enter music school in China and adapting the instrument to an ever-widening repertoire. While she’s tackled classical pieces by the likes of Bach, Britten and Schubert, she seems drawn toward the Iberian world, shown in the flamenco flourishes she infuses into her reading of Albeñiz’s Concierto de Aranjuez and in her delicate approach to Cuban composer Leo Brouwer’s lyric “Un dia de noviembre.” And she brings as much style to contemporary Chinese compositions as she does to bossa nova and Beatles standards.