Since her childhood, Ms.Betty Xiang was deeply motivated and strictly trained by her late father, Mr. Zuying Xiang, a renowned Erhu soloist and master in China and an Erhu professor at Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

At age 17, Betty made her solos debut with the premiere orchestra of China, the National Shanghai Orchestra. From 1987 to 1994, she appeared as a soloist with orchestras in France, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. She has also had solo appearances with Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra in 1994 through 1996, she performed several solo concerts to great acclaims. Betty has won numerous awards in nationwide Chinese music competitions and she made a number of Erhu solo and concerto recordings.

Mr. Yang started learning to play Chinese musical instruments at the age of six. By the age of 13, he concentrated all his efforts in mastering Pipa. He was privately tutored by several of the great Pipa masters in China, including the renowned Professor Dehai Liu, principal of the Chinese Conservatory of Music.

At 18, he performed as a Pipa soloist with the National Shanghai Orchestra, one of the most important orchestras in China. He has been a featured soloist with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony orchestra, the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, the National Taipei Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. In addition he has performed numerous concerts in Belgium, France, Malaysia, and Japan.

Mr. Yang has also won many awards in music competitions over the years. His solo and concerto recordings have been released through major recording companies in China, Hong Kong, and Singapore. During the spring of 2001, Mr.Yang completed a world concert tour with cellist Yo-Yo Ma playing a number of works especially commissioned for them.

Since immigrating to the United States in 1996, both Betty and Wei have given many concerts and demonstrations at universities and colleges in the Midwest as well as public libraries. During 1998 and 1999 they were invited to perform at The Art Institute of Chicago as well as in St. Louis, Missouri; Fort Wayne, Indiana; and New York City. From November 2000 to January 2001 they were appointed as musician-in-residence for the Art Institute’s Taoism and the arts of China exhibit in Chicago. In June 2000, they were selected to be part of group of top international musicians performing in the All Bach Program at the Ravinia Music Festival in Illinois

Besides their busy performance schedule, Mr. And Mrs. Yang are teach Pipa and Erhu in their private studios in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. In recognition of their outstanding musicianship, They have recently been awarded of the IAC (Illinois Arts Council) Artist Fellowship.

The Pipa’s status in present-day China is comparable to that of the Piano in the West. National competitions are usually broadcast on radio and television. In 1980 Yang won third prize in one of those contests. "I was only 20," he says, "so I didn’t care if I placed high. I just wanted to play." Five years later he won the top prize in a competition hosted by Shanghai. "It was more interesting because we had to play both traditional and western music," he says. In the spring of 1989 he won the most prestigious competition, held in Beijing. As part of the prize, he got offers to record. He and Xiang have made at least 15 CDs since, all in Chinese-speaking countries, and young composers have begun clamoring to write for them, arranging old melodies in a Western style or creating new modernist pieces.