Like many others in Beijing, Wu Man started playing the nearly 2,000-year-old plucked-string instrument called the pipa when she was a child in the 1970s. She not only led the pack but also left it when she became the first recipient of a master's degree in the instrument, bringing her talent to the U.S. and therein introducing the pipa to the Western world.
Man, 40, began learning the pipa from a private teacher at age 9 and went on to study at music school for more than 10 years, earning her master's degree from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.
Man moved to Southern California in 1990; her U.S. career began in her local Chinese community. The music world there, she said, is very small.
She has been sharing the music of the pipa with audiences nationwide ever since.
"I wanted to see what was outside," Man said. "I wanted to see if my instrument could survive outside of China."
The pipa virtuoso performs 7 p.m. Sunday at Goucher College for its 48th annual Henry and Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Lecture-Performance.
"The music style is so interesting and broad," she said. The sound, Man said, is very elegant and beautiful, like that of typical Chinese music, but is different in that it can be dramatic and percussive. The "four strings sound like a thousand."
The guitarlike instrument, played with 10 fingers, is the inspiration of a great deal of old Chinese literature and poems. It produces a wide variety of sounds and music types.
Her performance at Goucher will be split into two parts. The first half of the 80-minute concert will be an introduction to traditional music consisting of six or seven pieces in a variety of styles.
For the second half, Man will play only one piece, which will be coupled with percussion as well as a video projection of Chinese calligraphy, a painting and a poem.
"I want to share my experience, and I want to take the audience on a journey through China, through each music work, to have a very enjoyable evening," Man said. Her hope is for people to be entertained and educated by her performance.
Along with traditional Chinese music, Man has engaged in Western classical, jazz, electronic, African, European and Japanese music. She has performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. In addition, in the mid-1990s, she and cellist Yo-Yo Ma were two of the first Chinese artists to perform at the White House.
"I can't do any other thing," Man said. "Since I was 9, it was more like a part of my life. It has been with me so long, it's kind of a part of myself, too."
She also gained exposure via several movie soundtracks, including Ang Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman and The Wedding Banquet. Furthermore, she has recorded various albums including the newly released Terry Riley: The Cusp of Magic with Kronos Quartet and Wu Man.
"I don't know how I got here," she said. "The main thing I know is I keep going and never stop."
aaron.chester@baltsun.com
Wu Man performs at the Kraushaar Auditorium of Goucher College at 7 p.m. Sunday. Goucher is at 1021 Dulaney Valley Road. The performance is free, but seats must be reserved in advance by calling 410-337-6333 or e-mailing boxoffice@ goucher.edu.