Wu Fei was born in Beijing shortly after the end of the cultural revolution. Her parents, partly in response to the political chaos that shaped their lives up to that time, were determined to give Fei the best possible education — and that included music. She began intensive music lessons as a toddler and showed immense talent from an early age. Professors with the China Conservatory of Music selected her to be trained as a professional musician, and at the age of 5, she began learning the guzheng, a traditional Chinese stringed instrument.

Today, Wu Fei is a classically trained composer, singer and master of the guzheng, mixing Western classical and Chinese traditions with a contemporary sound. She now resides in Nashville, Tenn., and has collaborated with artists from varied disciplines, ranging from Emmy-winning directors to Grammy-winning musicians such as Béla Fleck and percussionist Billy Martin (Medeski-Martin-Wood). Fei has released two solo recordings and two collaborative albums, one with singer-songwriter and banjoist Abigail Washburn.

It was working with Washburn that inspired her move from Beijing to Nashville. “One genre I really wanted to learn more was American folk music. Through working with Abigail, I was quickly introduced to a wonderful circle of very talented musicians who were based in Nashville. It was no brainer for me to want to move my family to Nashville… We fell in love with the people in Nashville,” she told World Music Central in a 2020 interview. “We were tired of living in stressful big cities where people are rude and everything’s expensive. Now we are raising our children in a forest in west Nashville. We feel so happy!”

We’ret thrilled to welcome Wu Fei to the Festival of Faiths, where she’ll participate in the session 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝘽𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 on Thursday, Nov. 14, at 7 p.m. She’ll be joined by Will Oldham (aka Bonnie “Prince” Billy), Teddy Abrams (Louisville Orchestra), Valerie Coleman (renowned flutist) and Sara Callaway (Louisville Academy of Music).

LEARN MORE: https://festivaloffaiths.org/

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