Liu Sola

Liu Sola (; born 1955 in Beijing, China) is a Chinese composer, vocalist, music producer, and author.

Biography

After graduating from the Central Conservatory of Music with a degree in composition, she published her award-winning novella You Have No Choice. Since the 1980s, Liu Sola has scored many Chinese and international film sound tracks, as well as TV and drama productions. She has composed music for orchestra, ensemble, opera, modern theater, modern dance, and art exhibitions. Her range of musical styles includes classical music, jazz, early music, rock, traditional and contemporary music. She is frequently invited to perform at international music festivals and has recorded and collaborated with many international artists. During the 1990s, she recorded with Pól Brennan, Bill Laswell, James Blood Ulmer, Jerome Brailey, Henry Threadgill, Umar Bin Hassan, Amina Claudine Myers, Fernando Saunders and, Pheeroan akLaff. In 2003, she founded the Liu Sola & Friends Ensemble, teaming up with Chinese instrumental virtuosos such as Li Zhengui, Zhang Yangsheng, and Yang Jing, together with other young award-winning soloists. In 2012, Chinese guitar virtuoso Liu Yijun (lao wu) joined the ensemble.

She is the founder of Liu Sola (Beijing) Music Studio, located in Songzhuang art colony, an artist district. Liu Sola designed and built a music space for her ensemble to rehearse and record. Over the years, she has composed and produced film soundtracks for directors such as Zhang Nuanxin, Michael Apted, Li Shaohong, Lv Yue, Ning Ying and others. In 2013, she established the Liu Sola & Friends Ensemble Independent Film Music Work Shop.

Her music works include the chamber opera Fantasy of the Red Queen (2006), performed by Ensemble Modern and the Liu Sola & Friends Ensemble. Liu Sola is the librettist and music composer, artistic director, costume designer and leading vocalist. The chamber opera The Afterlife of Li Jiantong (2009) is a work dedicated to her mother, a Chinese political-historical writer. Liu Sola wrote both the libretto and the music. It was performed by Theatre of Voices, conducted by Paul Hillier.

Her novels include Chaos & All That (1989), the English translation of which by Richard King, was awarded First Prize for translation by the British Comparative Literature Association, Nü Zhen Tang (2000), which has been translated into French and Italian, La Grande Île des Tortues – Cochons (2006) and Lost in Fascination (2011).

Liu was married to Hong Kong-born scholar and cultural critic Ackbar Abbas.