Chinese bamboo flute master and music professor Lu Chunling died of heart failure yesterday morning at the age of 97 — days before he was due to perform at a charity concert.
Announcing Lu's death, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music said the performance may now be turned into a memorial concert. His funeral will be held at the Longhua Funeral Parlor at 9:30am on Saturday.
"It surprised me that he would leave us so soon, since he was always very passionate about the flute and always looked happy and carefree," said fellow bamboo flute musician Tang Junqiao, who had been due to perform with Lu and his students on Saturday.
Lu's career was long and varied. Before becoming a professional musician in 1949, the Shanghai native worked as an army, ambulance and taxi driver and as a turner at the Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard.
Known as the "Chinese Magic Flute", Lu was an influential performer, composer and educator who nurtured several bamboo flute artists, including Kong Qingbao, Yu Sunfa and Chen Huilong.
As a master of the Southern School, Lu first introduced the school's traditional stringed and woodwind music in Jiangnan — or south of the Yangtze River — on stage as a solo. He also adroitly fused skills of the Northern School.
He received a Chinese Golden Bell Award for Lifetime Achievement in Music in 2009 and was a Shanghai Literature and Awards Lifetime Honor Award in 2010.
He served as a professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and as president of the Shanghai Association of Traditional Stringed and Woodwind Instruments.
