BACKGROUND
Bei Bei (Bei Bei Monter, Bei Bei He) is one of world’s premier guzheng musicians.The Guzheng is over 2,500 years old and belongs to the asian long zither family, and was used in both folk and court music in ancient China. Born in Chengdu, China, Bei Bei fell in love with the large 21-stringed instrument at first sight, and began playing at age seven. Passionate about music and sure that her calling was to become a professional musician, Bei Bei majored in guzheng at the Central University of Nationalities in Beijing. She also went on to study at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts under several guzheng masters such as Li-Jing Sha, Mu-Lan Hai, Chun-Jiang Teng, and Ling-Zi Xu. After moving to Los Angeles, California, she further studied music recording at Azusa Pacific University, Citrus College and jazz performance at Fullerton College.
MUSICIAN
As a performing artist and composer, Bei Bei roots her art in classical music and expands into other styles, combining new with old into creative new expressions. This is heard especially in her collaborations with musicians from different genres such as funk, jazz, pop, electronica, hip-hop, and dance.
She released her debut album “Quiet Your Mind And Listen” in 2006 and her collaborative album “Heart of China” (Universal Music), with Richard Horowtiz, in 2008. In 2009 Bei Bei started collaborating with England’s prolific producer / musician Shawn Lee. The team has released two albums – “Into The Wind” (Ubiquity Records) in 2010, and “Year of The Funky” (Légère Recordings) in 2017.
As a studio musician, she recorded for the Disney movie “Mulan”(2020) original soundtrack as well as its powerful hit song “Loyal Brave True” sung by Christina Aguilera. She also premiered this song with Christina Aguilera at the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show on March 10, 2020. Other movie/TV soundtracks she recorded for include “Turning Red” (Disney-Pixar 2022), Kungfu Panda 4 (Dreamworks 2024), the hit Sci-fi Channel series “Battlestar Galactica” and iMax movie “Mysteries of Ancient China”. She also recorded for many video games such as “The League of Legends”, “Revelation” (天谕), “Moonlight Blade” (天涯明月刀), “Honor of Kings” and “Age of Empire”. She recorded for singer / song writers such as San.Drine, Jessica Fichot, Karoline Kausted, Emma Ejwertz and Summer Jike Junyi. She has worked with multiple Hollywood film and TV composers such as Hans Zimmer, Harry Gregson-Willams, Neal Acree, Sam Cardon, George Shaw and Bear McCreary.
As a composer, she composed and recorded for China Central TV documentary series “Dun Huang” (敦煌) and the movie “Copy Cat”（盗版猫). She collaborated with Hip Hop and R&B producer Fingazz for the Canon web promo video “Tiger’s Heart”. She also worked with Alan Burner combining live music with color choreography. She worked with dancers/ choreographers such as Mandarin Wu and Yaya Zhang. Her dance music works include “Dancing Dream,” “Four Seasons”, and “The Han Palace Improv.”
Bei Bei co-composed most of the music in her albums such as “Into The Wind” and “Year of The Funky.” Her most recent compositions include “Rhapsody Of Water and Fire” that she co-composed with Adam Giberti for the guzheng and symphony orchestra.
Bei Bei’s live performance projects include The Bei Bei Ensemble – a contemporary fusion band, Vivid China Ensemble – a traditional Chinese music ensemble, as well as a fusion duo with guitarist Jon Monter. She was the member of the Orchid Ensemble from 2008 to 2009. She has performed at a number of notable venues such as the Barclay Theater (Irvine), The Grove (West Hollywood), The Carpenter Theater (Cal State Long Beach), National Arts Center of Ottowa, Amoeba Records (Hollywood), Union Station (Los Angeles), Sergerstrom Center for the Arts (Costa Mesa), Knitting Factory (Hollywood), Illinois Wesleyan University, Gustavus Adolphus College, Cal State San Macros, UCLA, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Bowers Museum (Santa Ana), Shanghai National Convention Center, The Popoli Pop Cult Festival in Italy, and the MGM Grand Garden Arena (Las Vegas). She was also featured as a guest soloist performing with UC Irvine Symphony orchestra, UCLA Game Music Ensemble and the Pacific Symphony. She has worked with world-renowned conductors such as Carl St. Clair and Steven Tucker.
Bei Bei’s multiple performance videos on Youtube have been viewed over 12 million times in total. Her fans are all over the world.
AUTHOR & EDUCATOR
Eager to share her knowledge of music and skill in guzheng with the world, Bei Bei is both an author of guzheng instructional texts and a teacher of this classical Chinese instrument. She is the author of “Gu Zheng Sessions” and “Bei Bei’s Easiest Guzheng Course.” In 2011, Bei Bei and her music “Hot Thursday” were included in the college textbook “World Music” by Michael Bakan. Currently, she is the director of her own music school – Lotus Bud GuZheng Academy and instructor at OC Music and Dance in Irivne, CA.
ACTING
Recently Bei Bei’s music and performances have crossed over to commercial work featured on screen and internet platforms. In the summer of 2017, Bei Bei performed as Guzheng master in a major international ad campaign for a top telecommunication company.
In the winter of 2018 Bei Bei was cast in the Geico Renters Insurance commercial “Soothing Sounds At The Office”. Also in early 2019 She landed a role in the Taco Bell “Go-Getters” national ad campaign. These commercial roles allowed her to become a member of SAG-AFTRA.
AWARDS
Bei Bei is a multi-award winner of many national and international competitions such as the 1993 National Chinese Instruments Competition, the 1999 College Students Art Festival in Beijing, and the 1st Dragon Cup International GuZheng Competition in 2001, and most recently, “Best Instrumentalist” of the 2021 InterContinental Music Awards (ICMA).
Bei Bei was featured as one of the “Most Fascinating People in Los Angeles” on the LA Weekly’s “People’s Issue 2015”.
Bei Bei has introduced American and International audiences to the Guzheng with high acclaim. She says her greatest reward is when her passion for the instrument and the beauty of her music touch people across the world.
个人简介
荷蓓蓓 (Bei Bei Monter, Bei Bei He) 出生于四川成都，现居美国加州洛杉矶。她是一位国际知名的古筝演奏家、作曲家和民乐先锋艺术家。她7岁开始学习古筝，先后从师沙里晶、江旦曦、海木兰、滕春江、许菱子等多位古筝名家。12岁考入北京中央民族大学音乐系预科，主修古筝。18岁进入香港演艺学院主修古筝和舞台音响设计。2003年赴美学习音乐制作，并进修爵士乐。毕业后，她移居洛杉矶从事古筝演奏、教学和音乐创作的工作。荷蓓蓓精通于演奏传统和现代的乐曲，活跃在各类古典音乐的舞台上。赴美后，她积极地与多种非古典的音乐人合作演奏并制作了爵士、电声、嘻哈、Funk、融合等类的作品。
她与Harry Gregson-Williams, Neal Acree, Sam Cardon, Bear McCreary ，Chad Cannon, George Shaw 等多位著名好莱坞作曲家合作，参与了多个为影视及游戏配乐的录音工作，如：Syfy频道的科幻电视连续剧 “Battlestar Galactica” 、网易游戏《天谕》及《天涯明月刀》、电影《中国古代之谜》、《花木兰》(2020)、《功夫熊貓4》等。她所创作的音乐多次被用于美国和中国的舞蹈、电视、记录片和电视广告中，如：欧普拉脱口秀节目(The Oprah Winfrey show)、 中央电视台的电视纪录片《敦煌》(与著名音乐人张楚合作）、佳能摄像机宣传片《Tiger’s Heart》、电影《盗版猫》。
她与舞蹈家Mandarin Wu和Yaya Zhang合作，为她们的舞蹈创作音乐并表演了《四季》、《舞梦》和《梦回汉朝》等作品。
Bei Bei参与了迪士尼2020年《花木兰》真人电影原声配乐的录音，并在主题曲《忠勇真》(Loyal Brave True)中演奏古筝，她于2020年3月10日在好莱坞“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” （吉米秀）节目中与世界级巨星Christina Aguilera同台首演此歌，惊艳四座，引起了观众们热烈的反响。
从2006年起，她录制发行了多张个人专辑、单曲和与其它音乐人的合作集辑。其中代表作有《Quiet Your Mind and Listen》、《Heart of China》、《Into The Wind》和 《Year of The Funky》。她的音乐被多个美国和国际媒体播出，如：英国BBC电台，美国NPR（国家公众广播电台）、洛杉矶KCRW电台、意大利Radio Popolare 和 Controradio 电台、德国Deutschlandfunk Kultur电台、德国TIDE TV电视台等。截止2021年3月Bei Bei 在Youtube上的多个演奏视频的被观看次数累计达到了1300万次。她的粉丝遍布世界的各个角落。
作为一位音乐教育者，她创办了“荷蓓古筝学院”并编著了中英文双语对照的古筝教材 《习筝时分》(“Gu Zheng Sessions”) 和 《Bei Bei’s Easiest Guzheng Course》。 2011年她被收录进美国大学课本《世界音乐》（“World Music”）一书中。
除了活跃在南加州的舞台上，荷蓓蓓多次到美国各地巡演，并出访了加拿大、意大利、英国、中国大陆、香港等国家和地区。除了独奏，她是融合乐队 “Bei Bei Ensemble”的主奏，也与吉它演奏家Jon Monter组成二重奏组合。
她也多次被美国的交响乐团如 UC Irvine Symphony Orchestra、 UCLA Game Music Ensemble、the Pacific Symphony 邀请作为独奏嘉宾参加演出，并与世界著名指挥家Carl St. Clair 合作演出她的原创作品《Tiger’s Heart》、《烟花》和《春醒了》。
作为一个作曲家，她创作了她专辑里的大部分乐曲。除此之外的作品有《蓝荷之舞》、《舞梦》、《永恒的微笑》、《灵动》、《午夜细语》、《水火》、《一半逍遥》以及古筝与交响乐协奏曲《水火狂想曲》等。
从2017年起，蓓蓓开始在影视界显露头角。她在一个国际科技巨头公司的广告中出演了古筝大师的角色。2018年她又于美国Geico 保险和Taco Bell 连锁快餐的电视广告中饰演了古筝演奏家的角色，2022年二月，她与美国喜剧明星Will Smith一起出镜的音乐类广告在美国“超级碗”电视广告时段中播出。她是美国演员工会(SAG-AFTRA)的会员。
2015年她荣登《洛杉矶周刊》(LA Weekly)的封面，成为该年度“最有魅力的洛杉矶人”之一。2019年1月美国中文电视台对她进行了专访，2019年末中央电视台《华人世界》栏目对她进行了特别报道。2023 年《美化》雜誌刊登了對她的專訪《好萊塢的中國音樂符號》
2021 她荣获“洲际音乐大奖”最佳 “原创乐器演奏家”奖。
她在2022年和2023年担任“世界古筝大赛”的评委。
荷蓓蓓是美国作家作曲家协会（ASCAP）会员、新加坡亚洲艺术协会艺术家委员会成员及美国中国风艺术协会的会员。她对在海外弘扬和推广中国音乐和文化做出了积极的贡献。