SHENSduo 申思琵琶 by Shenshen Zhang, Sophia Shen

SHENSduo (申思琵琶) emerges as a dynamic duo based in the California Bay Area since 2021, featuring Shenshen Zhang and Sophia Shen, two award-winning pipa composers /performers. Dedicated to originality and authenticity, they create genre-blending compositions and engage with a worldwide audience. Their commitment extends to exploring new concepts and undiscovered potential, unbound by established rules or traditional norms.

SHENSduo, our debut pipa duet album, received two Silver Medals from the Global Music Awards – one for the World Music category, and the other for the Duo category in 2024.

About Our Members:

An award-winning pipa virtuoso, SHENSHEN ZHANG (張申申) is celebrated on multiple continents for her exquisite tonal qualities and delicate lyric interpretations. For years, Shenshen's vision to explore pipa duets has inspired her compositions in this album, fueled by her spirit as an improviser. Throughout her career, Shenshen has collaborated with many exceptional artists, including the San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Houston Grand Opera, as well as recorded the pipa sound sample library of Apple’s GarageBand App. Since 2022, Shenshen is on pipa faculty at Santa Clara University. She was born in Wenzhou, China and currently lives in Silicon Valley.

Born in Zhangzhou, a small city in southeast China, SOPHIA SHEN (沈思揚) is an award-winning composer, sound artist, pipa performer and improviser currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Through subtle texture and intricate timbre, her music weaves music and sounds into immersive listening experiences. Her works have been performed internationally at music festivals and programs such as SXSW, San Francisco Tape Music Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, BBC Radio, SF Asian Art Museum, Headlands Center for the Arts, Montalvo Arts Center, and EcoSono Institute, among others.

Tracklist

1.	The Chase 獵歌	4:28

2.	Mountain Rain 空山新雨	5:47

3.	Papillon 蝶	3:01

4.	Mourning Dove 哀鴿	5:19

5.	The Way 回首	4:10

6.	Blue Cow 藍牛	4:56

7.	Reverie 尋覓	5:30

8.	Joy 樂	4:33

Credits

released February 2, 2024

Credits:
Director of Recordings: Chris Campbell
Manager of Recordings: Tim Igel
Innova is supported by an endowment from the McKnight Foundation.
Artistic Director: Shenshen Zhang
Recording Engineer: Lemon Guo
Mixing Engineer: Sophia Shen
Mastering Engineer: Rainer Gembalczyk
Portrait Photography: Paul Tumason
Seal Design: Longshi Shen
Graphic Design: Rainer Gembalczyk
Recording Location: Campbell United Methodist Church, CA
Special Thanks: Stewart Slater, Yang Yang

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