About

Fu Ping Ryu is a Taiwanese guitarist and composer based in Austria, whose work moves fluidly between the classical and jazz traditions.

He began at the piano at the age of six and picked up the guitar in high school — and never put it down. Alongside classical and jazz he has played flamenco, choro, Irish music and rock, and maintains a lasting fascination with the musical traditions of the world.

Born in Taiwan, he completed his bachelor's degree in classical guitar there under Prof. Ming-Jian Fang, followed by a master's degree in classical guitar at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles with Prof. Hugues Navez. He went on to take a bachelor's and pedagogical degree in jazz guitar with Prof. Agostino di Giorgio at the Gustav Mahler Privatuniversität in Klagenfurt, Austria, and since 2023 has pursued a master's in jazz composition with Andy Middleton at the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien.

In 2019 he was awarded first prize at the Concours International Roland Dyens — Révélation Guitare Classique. Two years later, in 2021, he won first prize at the Brussels International Composition Competition with his own work Toccata.

He has performed his repertoire, compositions and arrangements in Paris, Brussels, Austria and Taiwan. In 2021 he played Roland Dyens's Concerto Métis with the Chapelle Musicale de Tournai under Philippe Gérard at the opening concert of the Brussels International Guitar Festival, and appeared as a soloist at the Paris Guitar Festival the same year.

His debut album To Tell an Earthly Orchid, released in 2022, brings together solo classical guitar with his own compositions and arrangements. His orchestral jazz album From Somewhere Else is scheduled for release at the end of 2026.

Away from the instrument, languages are a lasting fascination: he speaks English, French, German, Japanese, Mandarin, Taiwanese and Cantonese.

Awards & recognition

• 2021 First Prize — Brussels International Composition Competition, for his own work Toccata
• 2019 First Prize — Concours International Roland Dyens, Révélation Guitare Classique

Studies

• MA Master's in Jazz Composition — Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien
• MA Master's in Classical Guitar — Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles
• BA Bachelor's and pedagogical degree in Jazz Guitar — Gustav Mahler Privatuniversität, Klagenfurt