Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto

The Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto (梁祝小提琴协奏曲) is a famous modern work of Chinese music. It is an orchestral adaptation of an ancient legend, the Butterfly Lovers. Written for the western style orchestra, it features a solo violin played using some Chinese techniques.

The Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto was written in 1959 by the Chinese composers, Chen Gang (陈钢, born in 1935) and He Zhanhao (何占豪, born in 1933), while they were students at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.The work did not attain popularity until the late 1970s, when China loosened its restrictions after the Cultural Revolution.

The work is often performed at figure skating events and in concert halls worldwide. This concerto is now often performed with Chinese instruments playing the violin part, the most common being Erhu, Pipa, and Liuqin. In such cases the soloist is often accompanied by an orchestra consisting of Chinese instruments.