New Musician Spotlight: Guanliang Zong

We would like to introduce new tenure track violist Guanliang Zong! Welcome to Nashville Guanliang, Autumn, and Jojo!

🎻 Your Hometown: Xinyang City, Henan Province, China.

🎼 Age You Started Playing: I started playing violin when I was five and switched to viola when I was 18.

🎻 Why You Chose Your Instrument: Accidentally, lol! My college teacher thought I was a little too big for the violin and that my power and strength would be better suited to the viola. Looking back, I guess he was right!

🎶 Program You’re Looking Forward to This Season and Why: I’m really looking forward to Mahler’s Seventh Symphony and Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. I love the harmonic writing in Mahler’s music and the Hungarian folk elements in Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra.

🎮 Hidden Talents: I wouldn’t necessarily call them talents, but I love playing video games, walking my dogs, fishing, swimming, and occasionally going hiking.

🍜 Favorite Nashville Restaurant: Zong Restaurant! 😂 Just kidding! Since I’ve only recently moved to Nashville, I haven’t found my favorite restaurant yet. For now, I mostly cook Chinese food at home, including qīngjiāo ròusī(shredded pork with green peppers), hóngshāo ròu (braised pork belly), and guōbāo ròu (crispy sweet-and-sour pork).

🐶 Dog or Cat? I love both, but I have two dogs with me in Nashville: Autumn, my 11-year-old boy Labrador, and Jojo, my five-year-old girl Aussiedoodle. They’re my little family!

🎧 Favorite Non-Classical Music: I don’t have a particular favorite yet, but recently I’ve been enjoying traditional Chinese music played on the guqin, an ancient Chinese zither. Pieces like High Mountains and Flowing Water (Gāoshān Liúshuǐ) and Guǎnglíng Sàn have been especially fascinating to listen to.