I acknowledge that the land that I work and live on is the land of the Kaurna people.
I sincerely pay my respects to them and their culture, values and beliefs;
and to elders both past, present and emerging
Music promotes harmony,
Harmony promotes love
Love promotes life
Life promotes music
Photo credit: Emma Luker
Zhao is an exciting and highly accomplished composer, musician, producer and teaching artist - with a heart for the community and touch of an artist. She is one of South Australia’s most grounded artists as her initiatives, projects and collaborations have been heavily focused within South Australia. Her works often speak about the power of reflection, the strength that can be derived from one's introspection; and she also seeks to cross boundaries - artistically, culturally and socio-economically. Believing in accesible arts, Zhao's initiatives and performances often seeks to connect with audiences of a broader background.
Her community initiatives began with founding School of Chinese Music & Arts in 2005 and further developing a number of stimulating and ground breaking projects, such as Multicultural Storytime program for 0-5year olds. Initially funded by Multicultural SA in 2015, it has been embraced and continued on up until today by local councils and libraries. Other programs developed by Zhao include Family Phonics and Adelaide Chinese Orchestra - which have been supported by City of Salisbury, City of Adelaide, City of Playford and Multicultural SA in various stages.
Artistically, Zhao has been part of different ensembles and groups, exploring and projecting the different sides of her music. Her earlier initiatives include Oriental Flair and Moonta Street. In 2018, besides being a featured artist in Adelaide Symphony Orchestra's Chinese new year concert, Zhao was also part of Nexus Arts' initiated new sonic experimental Radial Quartet and delivered original works to the show 'Harvest'. In 2019, she also founded San Ureshi - a unique trio consisting of erhu, guzheng and percussion. Their works are mostly original, experimenting styles yet embracing tradition, with many of their works responding to artwork from Art Gallery South Australia.
Since then, her compositions have stretched from ensembles to orchestras, with a touch of classical in jazz and improvisations. Fond of storytelling through music and her artmaking, Zhao was commissioned by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra as a composer in their community project 'Floods of Fire'. She presented Tale o' Fire Phoenix as an outcome of this project, and has since toured South Australian schools with the orchestra. Other projects also sees her working with Musica Viva, Brink Productions, Actnow Theatre & Nexus Arts.
Zhao has also been CAAP's Artist Lab x SA Co-ordinator, and is currently onboard ActNow Theatre as Treasurer.