'Music is my magic'

Liu describes her collaboration with the ensemble as seeking a zhi yin, or soul mate, a term from a Chinese legend that Liu has adapted into her album, Blues in the East. The legend tells of a zither player, Yu Boya, and his friend Zhong Zhiqi, a woodcutter. Zhong was the only one who understood Yu's music. After Zhong dies, Yu breaks his zither and never plays it again.

"All of those musicians have inspired me to explore the possibilities of guqin. The instrument, which is thousands of years old, is lonely. When I play it in the ensemble, it feels like seeking a soul mate via music," says guqin player Wu Na, who collaborated with Liu in her contemporary opera The Fantasy of the Red Queen in Berlin in 2006.

Liu spends most of her time rehearsing and composing new works in her house in Songzhuang, an art district in Beijing's eastern suburbs.

Liu says she can only concentrate on one thing: creating music.

"I am neither good at selling music nor capable of catering to an audience with brainwashing pop sounds. I am fated to constantly write music, and I easily absorb music, both ancient and contemporary. The conversation we had about music was very sincere, and we want to start a trend," she says.