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Dr. Yawen Ludden brings an unusual perspective to her musical scholarship and teaching. She earned her BA in music performance in Shanghai, China, and MA and PhD degrees in musicology in the U.S. She also studied classical Chinese literature at Nagoya University (Japan) with the renowned scholar Makoto Imataka. Dr. Ludden’s scholarly work has focused on Chinese and Western opera, especially the transformation of Beijing Opera during the Cultural Revolution. She has published numerous articles and reviews on these subjects and was invited to co-author several book chapters in both English-language and Chinese-language academic journals.

Ludden has been the recipient of many awards and fellowships, including a Fulbright Scholarship (2010-2011) at Central Conservatory in Beijing as well as from the AMS (American Musicology Association), SEM (Society for Ethnomusicology) and several Chinese research foundations. She has also been invited to present papers at national and international conferences, and she has served as a guest lecturer at various institutions, such as University of Leeds (UK), Shih Hsin University (Taiwan), Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the Central Conservatory of Music (Beijing).

• Doctorate – musicology – University of Kentucky
• Master’s – music – Campbellsville University
• Bachelor’s – music – Shanghai Normal University

• Western art music, music history and culture
• Chinese Beijing opera, Kun opera and contemporary art music
• East Asian new media, popular music and popular culture

• “Preservation of an Intangible Cultural Heritage in Hebei Province, Rongcheng County: A Sustainable Model of Vertical Transmission.” Intangible Cultural Heritage Music Preservation in Rongcheng County. Commercial Press, Beijing, China. (2023). [Chinese]
• “As the Composer Wrote It: Re-Evaluating the Musical Innovations in Tang Xianzu’s Peony Pavilion.” Chinese Music as Cross-Culture. Macau Scientific and Cultural Centre, Lisbon, Portugal. (2021).
• “Striving for the Unity of Politics and Art.” [Review of the book Staging Revolution: Artistry and Aesthetics in Model Beijing Opera during the Cultural Revolution by Xing Fan.] China Review International, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 18-21. (2019).
• “Review of Laikwan Pang, ‘The Art of Cloning: Creative Production during China’s Cultural Revolution’.” Literature and History (2018, May).
• “The Transformation of Beijing Opera: Jiang Qing, Yu Huiyong, and Yangbanxi.” Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, Vol. 4, Issue 2-3. (2017, Oct.)
• “Tang Xianzu as the First Kun Opera Composer: Music Novelty and Originality in the Opera Peony Pavilion.” Journal of Tang Xianzu Research, Vol. 25 (2016, Aug.). [Chinese]
• “Melodic Spinning in Han Chinese Folk Songs” by Zhou Qingqing. Research on Traditional and Contemporary Music in China, Central Conservatory of Music Press. (2016, May). [translation from Chinese to English]
• “Multi-Layered Structure of Music Tradition and Its Embodiment in Chinese Traditional Music” by Wang Cizhao. Research on Traditional and Contemporary Music in China, Central Conservatory of Music Press. (2016, May). [translation from Chinese to English]
• “Bruno Nettl: His Life and Experiences.” Ch. 2 in Theoretical Contributions of Bruno Nettl from a Chinese Perspective. Zhang Boyu, Ed. Central Compilation and Translation Press, (2015). [Chinese] “Collection of Interviews with Chinese Artists on Yangbanxi.” Chinese Art Review, (2014, Summer). [Chinese]
• “Making Politics Serve Music: Yu Huiyong as Beijing Opera Composer and China's Minister of Culture.” The Drama Review, Vol. 56, Issue 2, (2012).
• “A New Approach to 21st-Century Research – Reading Music through Different Lenses.” The Campbellsville Review 4:119-24, (2009).

• Invited Researcher, Rongcheng, China (2018)
• Invited Researcher, Tang Xianzu Research Center, Fuzhou, China (2017-2020)
• Invited Speaker and commentator on “Transformation from Classical to Modern.” Tenth Symposium of Chinese Poetic Literature, Shih Hsin University, Taipei, Taiwan (2017)
• Recipient of the Keitel-Palisca/MPD grant, American Musicological Association (2017)
• Invited Lecture on “Opera and Ballet during the Cultural Revolution.” University of Leeds, Leeds, UK (2016)
• Diversity Award and Travel & Mentoring Grant, Society for Ethnomusicology (2013)
• Diversity Award & Travel Grant, American Musicological Society (2012)
• Invited Speaker, American Dialog Series, U.S. Embassy, Beijing, China (2011)
• Fulbright Research Fellowship (2010-2011)
• Diversity Award & Travel Grant, American Musicological Society (2009)

• American Musicological Society
• Society for Ethnomusicology
• European Foundation for Chinese Music Research (CHIME)