An independent UK-based arts and music platform connecting artists, cultures and audiences through performance, collaboration and creative projects.
East Strings Arts is a UK-based arts and cultural platform rooted in Chinese traditional music and open to international collaboration.
Starting from Chinese instrumental music and its cultural traditions, we create performances, projects and exchanges that bring Chinese music into contemporary contexts and connect it with artists, institutions and audiences across cultures.
We believe tradition is not static. It can enter new spaces, meet different artistic languages and continue to evolve while retaining its own identity.
We create opportunities for Chinese traditional music to be heard, experienced and reimagined internationally, while enabling meaningful collaboration between artists from different cultural and musical traditions.
East Strings Arts can present Chinese traditional music in its own right, while also enabling it to collaborate with music of every form around the world, enter contemporary stages, engage with Asian, European and wider global musical traditions, and expand into interdisciplinary work across music, visual art, performance and other creative fields.
Chinese traditional music is our root,
but not our boundary.
We respect where tradition comes from — and care deeply about where it can go next.
Jiacheng Yu is a UK-based erhu performer, arts producer and the founder of East Strings Arts.
Trained in erhu performance at Tianjin Conservatory of Music and later in creative and cultural industries at the University of York, his practice brings together performance, cultural exchange and project-making.
Through East Strings Arts, he is developing a platform that begins with Chinese traditional music while creating space for it to meet contemporary stages, international musical traditions and wider artistic disciplines.
“Chinese traditional music is where we begin — not where we end.”
East Strings Arts grows from the artistic practice and cross-cultural collaborations of its founder and collaborating artists. These selected engagements form part of the experience behind the platform; they are not presented as East Strings Arts productions unless stated otherwise.
Performance · Chinese traditional music · Artistic exchange
Live performance · Cultural exchange
University & public cultural performances
Performance · Community & cultural celebration
Alongside professional performance and international artistic collaboration, East Strings Arts is developing community-based and non-commercial cultural activity, including community performances, outreach work and music-making for older communities.
We want Chinese traditional music to be heard not only in concert halls and festivals, but also in the everyday spaces where people live, meet and connect.
Bringing live Chinese music into local community spaces.
Creating accessible, non-commercial opportunities to encounter traditional music.
Using live music to create connection, conversation and shared cultural experiences.
International exchange begins with
real human connection.
East Strings Arts works with musicians and creative practitioners across disciplines, bringing distinctive artistic voices into new contexts.
Performance · Cultural Exchange
Live Performance
Original performances and cultural projects.
Artists, institutions and creative communities.
Meaningful cross-cultural partnerships.
Ambitious ideas through live experiences.
We welcome collaboration with universities, venues, festivals, cultural institutions and creative organisations.
East Strings Arts welcomes collaborations with artists, cultural organisations, universities, festivals, venues and creative partners in the UK and internationally.
Artist and ensemble bookings
Creative and cultural projects
Institutions, festivals and organisations
Musicians and creative practitioners
Based in Leeds, United Kingdom
Working across the UK & internationally