Gu Jieting is a pianist and theatrical director. She graduated from Conservatoire National Supérieur
de la Music de Paris with a master’s degree in Piano, which makes her the first Chinese pianist who
managed to do that, and a DFS (Diplôme de Formation Supérieure) in Piano and Chamber
Music. She started piano practice at the age of 2 and a half and at eighteen, she was granted full
scholarship to France for further education in music. She was under the tutelage of renowned
French pianists Dominique Merlet and Jean François Heisser. Hailed as an “Outstanding New
Generation Chinese Pianist”, she has been performing internationally in major music festivals. In
2017, she was awarded the “National Spirit Achievers Award” by the Modern Media Group and
featured as the cover person in the December issue of Life Monthly (limited edition) of that year.

During her stay in Paris, Gu has presented a number of solo concerts and gradually come into
prominence in the international music scene. She attracted great attention in the French classical
music realm by her extraordinary performance in Debussy Recital Series. Influenced strongly from
her Chinese cultural heritage, Gu managed to interpret western piano performance from an
innovative perspective. She presented to the French audience a performance beyond the classics,
encouraging the audience to indulge into a refine collision and an alternative understanding of the
original pieces. Gu's exquisite performance raised great awareness in the music and art fields in
Paris and was honored as "the envoy of the Silk Road on the black and white keys". Her research
project “On the Different Approaches but Similar Effects of Debussy Piano Music and Chinese
Traditional Culture” sparked a heated debate and was highly praised by classical music community
in France. This paper was collected by the library of Conservatoire National Supérieur de la Music
de Paris later on. Gu Jieting is also keen to be involved in philanthropy; and she was invited by the
French council as a representative of outstanding young-generation musicians to contribute to the
charity concert “For Children with Disabilities around the World”.

Gu Jieting was born in a scholarly family: her great-granduncle V.K. Wellington Koo was a
prominent diplomat under the Republic of China; her grandfather Gu Shusen was an outstanding
educator in the history of modern Chinese education; and her father Gu Keren is a Kun Opera
scholar who founded the China Kunqu Opera Museum. Born and raised in such a family, Gu Jieting
has been greatly encouraged and inspired by the artistic environment from her family, which leads
her towards a career in art in the new generation. In 2013, Gu was invited to return to China as a
resident pianist in Shanghai Oriental Symphony Orchestra. As a classical pianist, Gu also shows
interest in expanding her passion in theatrical arts and exploring for new platforms.

In 2014, Gu initiated a new form of stage performance: site-specific music theatre. Her first work as a theatrical director, “I”Fantasie - Rencontre between Debussy and Du Liniang debuted in the
garden of Suzhou Museum. It also marked the first performance ever presented in the museum.
Featuring a “dream within a dream”, Rencontre between Debussy and Du Liniang brings together
two classical performances, Chinese traditional Kunqu opera and classical piano recital. By
breaking the boundaries between the western and the eastern cultural heritages, she manages to
develop a new form of musical narrative while seeking for a connection between the classics and
the contemporary. The musical theatre is divided into three sections, including piano recital, Kunqu
opera and the screening. Collectively, they visualize the dialogue beyond space and time. The
versatile expressions fill the performance with a sense of intriguingly elegant tension. The
performance has caught wide attention not only in the music scene, but also in the arts scene. The
notion of “musical theatre” casts light on her reflection upon the interplay between music and
public space as well as attempt to integrate the classical with contemporary art. In the same year, Gu was granted “Outstanding Talents of Shanghai” by the Shanghai Municipal Government.

In October 2016, Rencontre between Debussy and Du Liniang was selected by the 18th Shanghai
International Arts Festival as a highlight performance and received high praises from judges and
audiences from both within China and internationally. The Shanghai International Arts Festival
openly recognized her as “a new-generation Chinese artist with remarkable performing talents and
creative productions.” In the end of 2017, “I”Fantasie - Rencontre between Debussy and Du
Liniang launched a world tour. In its first stop in Russia, the performance was highly acclaimed
among both the professionals and the audiences.