Illuminated Performance

Ruixin Niu, an Intermedia Ph.D. candidate at the University of Maine, has combined Chinese pentatonic music with the digital age to create performances thrilling to hear and see. 

With help from engineering students at UMaine’s HackerSpace, Niu created a unique instrument made of transparent PLA material. This 3D-printed violin/viola hybrid allows lights inside the instrument to glow with different colors based on the notes Niu plays, combining music and lights to inform on a history of creative expression and cultural exchange.

Niu, a musician from age four, has studied and performed music around the globe. She earned degrees at Nanjing Normal University, the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and studied at the Geneva University of Music in Geneva, Switzerland as well as here at UMaine. On top of her studies, Niu has traveled and performed across the world, including in Paris. 

Niu’s performances include light, color and artistry, including multimedia displays and silk projection, an ode to the Silk Road which inspired Niu’s project. The Chinese pentatonic music Niu plays traces its history to the Silk Road, where artistry from different cultures, such as Arabia, Italy and other civilizations, mixed and grew. Niu uses concepts such as the Five Elements theory, the Eight Tones, and the Eight Trigrams to create her performances, using lights to assist her audience in discerning subtle shifts in her music. This approach to her performances, while in part a way to express the vast history of Chinese pentatonic music, also acts as a way to keep her audience engaged. Niu’s immersive performances compensate for the numbness to external stimuli her audience may feel due to the constant distractions of the digital age.

In April 2025, Niu will perform on stage in a collaborative performance with UMaine Intermedia students and Guqin musician Simon Debierre. This performance will be the culmination of Niu’s education at the University of Maine.

Read the full story on UMaine News.

Written by Emma Beauregard, Communications Intern