Chen Gang obit

Chinese Composer Chen Gang has Died, Aged 91 

Gang was best known internationally as the co-composer of the famous “Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto” 

He was not on the list.

Born in 1935, the renowned Chinese composer Chen Gang was a longtime professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and best known as the co-creator of the Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto, which remains one of the most frequently performed Chinese works for violin and a Western-style orchestra.

Chen first studied music with his father, the songwriter Chen Gexin, and at the age of 10 began studying piano with a Hungarian pianist in Shanghai.

From 1955 to 1959, he studied composition at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music with Ding Shande, Sang Tong, and Soviet music experts, before staying on to teach as a professor himself after graduating. His later students included the acclaimed Chinese-American composer Jing Jing Luo.

In May 1959 at age 24, Chen partnered with his classmate He Zhanhao to write the Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto, which premiered under the direction of Yu Lina, and went on to become a career highlight.

or over 60 years, The Butterfly Lovers concerto has remained one of the most recognized symbolic representations of Chinese music with its unique blend of folk opera melodies with the Western symphonic structure. The concerto went on to earn five Golden Record prizes and a Platinum Record honor.

In a 2021 interview, Chen reflected on the years since creating The Butterfly Lovers, saying that the work was a “coming-of-age” piece from his student days under a very creative environment.

“It has indeed become a classic, a product of that unique era and its specific creative environment; not a single note has been altered since it was first written,” Chen says in the interview. “Amidst the contemporary call for ‘nationalization,’ this subject matter — which was the least reflective of ‘reality’ and the least aligned with ‘politics’ — was nonetheless selected by Meng Bo, then Party Secretary of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. This choice gave rise to a Chinese symphonic work that fused the dramatic structure of the Western sonata form with the melodies and performance techniques of traditional Chinese opera.”

Chen’s other works that became staples of Chinese classical music include 1970s pieces such as Miaolin’s Morning, The Golden Steel Smelting Furnace, and Sunshine in Tashkurgan — a virtuosic solo violin work frequently performed across China today. In the 1980s, he penned another violin concerto, Wang Zhaojun.

Notably, he also composed China’s first harp concerto and its first oboe concerto, as well as symphonic poems, grand choruses, and chamber ensembles. Remaining an active composer until his passing, Chen had recently completed “Symphonic Overture: Blossoms” in 2025. His works are known for their blend of tradition with abundant contemporary compositional techniques.

Our condolences to Mr. Chen’s family, friends, students, and colleagues.