compositions – Lao Luo

selected works and song cycles

chamber music for Chinese instruments

classical Chinese poetry put to music

Chinese songs with modern lyrics

compositions for brass instruments

selected works and song cycles

2025 | The Incredible Journey to the Land of the Dancing Trees | for plucked string orchestra | 14 min

This work was commissioned by the Bavarian Plucked String Orchestra and premiered at the eurofestival zupfmusik in Bruchsal, Germany, in 2026.

2025 | The Giants’ Awakening | for dizi, pipa, guzheng, yangqin and keyboard | 55 min

An album of twelve tracks comprising eight original compositions by Lao Luo and four arrangements of classical Chinese pieces, among them a work by A Bing. The cycle reworks familiar repertoire such as “Moonlight over the Spring River” alongside original pieces like the title track, exploring the expressive potential of each instrument.

Performed by Kang Yi (keyboard), Xu Yingrui (yangqin), Wei Tong (pipa), Ge Sijing (guzheng) and Wang Hua (dizi and xiao); recorded and mixed by Lao Luo at the Dahua Arts Center.

2022 | Twenty Art Songs from the Shijing (Book of Songs) | for soloists, choir, various instrumentations | 70 min

Lao Luo has set twenty classic poems from the Book of Songs (Shijing) to music in a truly distinctive song cycle. In this work, ancient verses are brought to vibrant new life. In his signature style, Lao Luo preserves the archaic rhythm and poetic essence of the original texts while strictly honoring the tonal inflections of the Chinese language, allowing melody and speech to flow together naturally. The cycle unfolds through beautiful melodies and compelling dramatic tension—both deeply rooted in tradition and strikingly modern. This work embodies Lao Luo’s artistic vision as the founder of “New Chinese Art Music”: grounding itself in tradition while daring to innovate, allowing the voice of China to shine in a contemporary light. Composed for soloists, choir, and various traditional Chinese instruments, it is a dialogue across three thousand years between antiquity and the present.

2019 | The Ballad of Mulan | for Soprano and Chinese Orchestra | 10 min

Commissioned by the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, premiered June 26, 2019 at the Shanghai Concert Hall with Wang Jing – soprano. The composition is based on the Han Dynasty poem “Mulan Ci”. Whereas in most previous handlings of the theme the “story of the good daughter” is told, Lao Luo’s interpretation sees a self-determined strong woman, living her dream despite any gender gap and traveling the world with the sword in her hand. The melodies represent this energetic heroine, expressing her longing to see the world and her bravery facing war and destruction.

2017/2018 | 24 Solar Term Songs | soprano and various instrumentations · lyrics by Su Dongpo, Li Bai and others | 95 min

The classical Chinese lunisolar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms. For each term Lao Luo chose a related classical poem and set it to music. The song cycle has been recorded by singer Gong Linna in 2017 and 2018, and since 2019 performed in concerts throughout China. Adaptions of selected songs for children’s choir are now widely spread in China.

2018 | Roaring Waterfalls | for di, erhu, sheng, zheng, ruan, yangqin, cello, accordion | 7 min

2018 | Healing Your Heart | for various instrumentations | ca. 300 min

Music for the troubled heart. This is a unique three-hour musical cycle produced by Lao Luo. Featuring various rich instrumentations, the project is explicitly dedicated to twelve different states of the human heart. It was composed to help listeners recover from emotional hardships, find tranquility, and transition smoothly into a peaceful sleep.

Unlike standard sleep music that uses sweet soundscapes to temporarily mask distress, Lao Luo’s approach focuses on calming the mind through artistic resonance. Sleep problems rarely start at the level of the body; they are heavily triggered by a hyperactive mind dealing with trouble, pain, longing, or anger. Good music must pick listeners up exactly where they are.

Each piece in the series is between ten and twenty minutes long and mirrors a specific state of mind. By first establishing an emotional frequency match with the listener—whether angry, excited, longing, or sad—the music creates a powerful resonance. Once synchronized, the composition gradually transforms its expression, slowing down, softening, and shifting its harmonies towards the end. This guides the listener’s mind away from its hyperactive concerns, turns negative energies into positive ones, and naturally induces a deep, restorative sleep.

2017 | Travelling West | for dizi and Chinese orchestra | 14 min

Commissioned by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, premiered by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra as part of the … festival 2017 with … – dizi and Yan Huichang – conductor. In 2018 the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra with … – dizi and Lao Luo – conductor premiered the work in Mainland China. Zhang Qian was one of the most important explorers in Chinese ancient history and his travels to the West of Han dynasty China are regarded as essential for the later growth and development of the silk road. The flute concerto draws a vivid picture of Zhang Qian’s travels, set to music with cinematic sounds evoking palace images from the capital Chang An and leading to far away places.

2017 | Cloud River Mountain | soprano, sheng, clarinet, e-guitar, cello, piano, bass, percussion · lyrics by Qu Yuan (c. 340 – 278 BC) | 60 min

Concert program in collaboration with Bang on a Can composers Julia Wolfe, David Lang and Michael Gordon, premiered during the Lincoln Center Festival 2017 in New York / USA with the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Gong Linna (soprano) and Nie Yunlei (sheng). Themed around the ancient world of Chinese myths with lyrics by Qu Yuan and English lyrics based on his work, the music draws its special flavour and energy out of the collaboration of four very different composers, merging their voices into a program rich in contrast yet fully accomplished as one entity.

2016 | Bridges | for Chinese orchestra | 16 min

Commissioned by the Macau Chinese Orchestra. The composition is a homage to the bridges of Macau, bridges not only as architectonic achievements, but also as cultural bridges. The piece also reflects the special historic relation with Portugal and merges elements of Fado into the modern Chinese sounds.

2016 | Rites of Spring and Autumn | Chinese and Western solo vocalists, choir, bells of Zeng Hou Yi and Chinese-Western symphonic orchestra · lyrics by Qu Yuan (c. 340 – 278 BC) | 80 min

This evening-filling composition is Lao Luo’s attempt to create a contemporary “Ritual Music”. Setting to music Qu Yuan’s “Nine Songs”, which originally was the base of a bi-annual ritual in ancient China, Lao Luo paints a picture of life and death that is beyond any religious belief system, but obtains its power out of a fundamental understanding and acceptance of life and death. The instrumentation is not only featuring Chinese instruments but including Western wind instruments, creating a symphonic sound with unique character. The use of the bells …

2014 | Travelling Heaven and Earth | for Chinese orchestra | 23 min

The composition is the composer’s attempt to present the Chinese orchestra in all its beauty and variety, making a clear statement against the most common copying of the Western symphony orchestra. It can thus be called an orchestra concerto, featuring all instruments and instrument groups of the orchestra in solo and introducing various original sound combinations.

2013 | Zhong Yue He Ming | for bells of Marquis Yi of Zeng and Chinese orchestra | 12 min

Commissioned by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, premiered 2013 by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra and the Wuhan International Bianzhong Ensemble with Yan Huichang – conductor. Lao Luo’s first publicly performed composition for the Bells of Marquis Yi of Zeng, featuring the instrument in an innovative and original way. The bells here are not only featured with single notes and hits, but lay patterns of harmonies, performed with rolls on the bells. The composition starts with separate parts for orchestra and bells, and then merges them, evolving to a totally new sound.

2012 | Yi Shui Ge | for suona and Chinese orchestra | 11 min

Premiered in 2016 by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra with Niu Jiandang – suona and Yan Huichang – conductor.

2012 | Wind Kissing Clouds | for dizi and symphony orchestra | 10 min

Premiered at the TFF Rudolstadt 2012 by the Thüringer Symphoniker with Wang Hua – dizi.

2011 | Burning Hope | for gaohu, erhu, zhonghu, cello | 11 min

Commissioned by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, premiered 2011.

2010 | Song of Love | soprano and Chinese orchestra · lyrics by Li Qingzhao (1084 – 1155) | 22 min

Premiered by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra at the Hong Kong Arts Festival 2010, with Gong Linna – soprano and Yan Huichang – conductor. With a selection of poems by China’s most famous poetess Li Qingzhao, Lao Luo draws a story of love that evolves over four seasons: spring – the early feelings, tenderness, awakening; summer – the heat of love, passion, fulfilment; autumn – loss, pain, longing; winter – resonance, memory, age.

2009 | White Cloud Fountain | for 2 di, 2 sheng, 2 clarinets, accordion | 8 min

Commissioned by the Jiangsu Chinese Orchestra.

2007 | Thoughts on a Still Night | voice, di/xiao, sheng, zither, yangqin, cello · lyrics by Li Bai, Gong Linna, Lao Luo and others | 55 min

This is the name of a single song with lyrics by Li Bai, setting to music the world’s probably most famous poem. But it is at the same time the name of an album that Lao Luo composed and produced for singer Gong Linna, featuring a vast variety of songs, including the breathtaking composition “Tan Te” which in 2010 became one of the most played and best known songs throughout China, having deep impact alike in the classical and pop music scene.

chamber music for Chinese instruments

classical Chinese poems set to music

Chinese songs with modern lyrics

compositions for brass instruments