He is pianist and arranger born to a musical family in Gulangyu Island, China, where his mother played the piano for church services, his brothers Xu Feini and Xu Feiping were pianists and his grandmother all played and sang. His late brother Xu Feiping founded a piano museum on Gulangyu Island.
He studied music from very young and became a student at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, graduating in 1968. After graduation he became a pianist with the Central Orchestra in Beijing.
While at the Conservatory he was a student of the pianist and arranger Yin Chengzong and became a secretary and contributor of the committee that had been set up to arrange Yellow River Cantata that was composed by Xian Xinghai. The work was arranged into a 4-movement piece and has since become the internationally performed and recorded Yellow River Piano Concerto that was premiered by Yin Chengzong in 1970.
China Philharmonic Orchestra recordings
Yellow River Piano Concerto (Xian Xinghai/arranged by Yin Chengzong, Liu Zhuang, Chu Wanghua, Sheng Lihong, Shi Shucheng, Xu Feixing)
DG 477 6229 (CD: Dragon Songs)
China Philharmonic Orchestra
Piano – Lang Lang
Conductor – Long Yu
Flute (Chinese) – Chen Shasha
Lute – Wu Yuxia
- https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5134&context=thesesdissertations
- https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2017brics/2017-08/11/content_30469956.htm
- https://classite.com/person/Xu-Feixing-q324454/profile
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_River_Piano_Concerto
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/6515676-Xu-Feisheng
- https://naxosdirect.co.uk/performers/xu-fei-sheng-448333