As a leading composer in China, Ye was appointed to a number of positions in both academic and social organizations.

His name has also become increasingly connected with film and TV music that classical composers seldom work on.

All these have made some people doubt his abilities as a serious "composer."

"People pay more attention to film and TV music because there is more media exposure of these works than my classical pieces," he said.

"I never stop composing symphonies or concertos but most of them are commissioned by foreign orchestras or festivals and not played in China very often," he said.

"I cannot say I am Mozart, but I really feel I was born with a genius for creating music. Film or TV producers come to me because I compose well and fast. When I score melodies, it feels like I am turning on a tap. Being productive does not mean being non-artistic.

"And I have to admit that I like to compose for film or TV productions, not because it is easier than doing a symphony, but because I can often tour with the crew. Travelling gives me much inspiration for music and the meaning of life, and meeting and communicating with different people who have different views of art and life also help me to create," he added.

Delight and achievements have also been accompanied by hardship. Last year, when Ye began composing "Song of the Earth," as an answer to Mahler's great work of the same title, his wife gave birth to a baby with Down's syndrome.

Ye planned to take the hospital that provided maternity care for his wife to court for negligence. He complained that it was a medical accident, saying the hospital should have found out about it when his wife was in the early stages of pregnancy.

He said in the first few months, he was full of anger, groaning and cursing fate. "But as the baby grew day by day, I gradually calmed down. I asked myself, even though we might win the case, so what? The baby had no chance to recover and I could not let it ruin my family."

"This is life and this is perhaps a mission from God who let me take care of my daughter all her life."

For the composer, music is the focus of life. Besides teaching 40 hours every week, Ye's schedule is full with composing, concerts, tours and festivals.

Winning awards

 He finished his version of "Song of the Earth" in 2005 commissioned by the China Philharmonic Orchestra with the world premiere of the first four movements on February 18.

The complete work, with six movements, was heard in August this year in Berlin at "Young Euro Classic" Festival.

In May, he was artistic director for the Beijing Modern Music Festival and his "South to the Clouds" premiered to wide acclaim.

The following month saw him composing "Cantonese Suite" for the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra for their tour of the United States and Japan. In July his sestet "Lotus" was premiered by the Macao Symphony Orchestra.

In August, Ye was invited to compose music for two modern dramas.

Meanwhile, he was so stirred by a TV documentary about the Chinese War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) that he paid a visit to the massacre museum in Nanjing. He then scored a cello concerto "Nanjing," which premiered at Ye's Compositions Concert in the Beijing Music Festival in October.

Now the composition at hand is "Tide Waves" for next year's 600th anniversary of the birth of the city Tianjin.

The awards are flooding in. On Saturday, the score he composed for the film "Taihang Mountains" won the 2005 Golden Rooster for the best film music score.

Some awards are quite common for a composer, such as the "Golden Bell Award" issued by the Chinese Musicians' Association. Some are more rare for a classical composer, such as the "Award for Special Achievement in Chinese Contemporary Film Music" issued by China Film Foundation.

And there are prizes that are very strange indeed for a composer. For example, last year the men's fashion magazine "Esquire" called him the "Top Ten Stylist Esquire."

All prizes have won him admiration and respect. For his beautiful melodies a US critic called him the "Chinese Bach." Let's just hope Ye has many more years of composing in him and that happiness can inspire him as much as sadness has.

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