Tina Guo facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tina Guo
Guo in 2018
Background information
Born	(1985-10-28) 28 October 1985 (age 39) Shanghai, China
Genres	Classical, classical crossover, new-age, heavy metal, industrial metal
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Cello, erhu, vocals
Years active	1994–present
Labels	Guo Industries Sony Music
Associated acts	Hans Zimmer Neal Acree Bill Brown Peter Kater Sabaton

Tina Guo (Chinese: 郭婷娜; pinyin: Guō Tíngnà) is an amazing American musician born in China on October 28, 1985. She is famous for playing the cello and the erhu, which is a traditional Chinese instrument. Tina is known for her exciting music videos. They often feature cool costumes and theatrical backgrounds. She mixes many different music styles, from classical to heavy metal. She also loves to improvise, which means making up music on the spot!

Tina has performed all over the world. She has played as a special soloist with big orchestras like the San Diego Symphony. She has also toured with famous musicians like Al Di Meola and Yoshiki from the band X Japan. Tina even played the electric cello for the "Batman: The Dark Knight" Suite at a film music festival! In 2019, she joined the German metal band Beyond the Black at a huge festival called Wacken Open Air. She also played with the Swedish metal band Sabaton and recorded a song with them called "Steel Commanders."

Early Life and Musical Journey

Tina Guo was born in Shanghai, China. Her parents, Lu-Yan Guo and Fei-Fei Soong, are both talented musicians. Her father is a concert cellist, and her mother is a concert violinist. They even run a music festival in San Diego, California!

Tina started playing the piano when she was just three years old in China. When she was five, her family moved to the United States. She then began learning the violin from her mother. At age seven, she also started studying the cello with her father. Her parents were very strict and made her practice for six to eight hours every day! When she was ten, Tina joined the Civic Youth Orchestra.

After high school, Tina earned a full scholarship to study cello at the USC Thornton School of Music. She learned from famous cello teachers like Nathaniel Rosen and Eleonore Schoenfeld. During her first year, she saw a classic metal band play. This show inspired her to try playing the cello in a heavy metal style. It took her three years of experimenting with pedals and different techniques to make her cello sound like a guitar!

Tina decided to leave college during her third year. It was hard to balance her studies with all her performances. Her parents were not happy about her decision at first.

Tina's Amazing Career

Tina Guo has had a very busy and exciting career. In 2007, she toured Australia with an all-girl band called Metaphor. She also played with the famous band Foo Fighters at the 2008 Grammy Awards.

She performed with violinist Midori Goto at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. From 2011 to 2013, Tina was the main electric cellist for Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour. She performed for two million people around the world on this tour!

Tina has also worked with many famous film composers. She played with Hans Zimmer at the premiere of the movie Inception. She was also a featured soloist on electric cello and erhu for a concert with Hans Zimmer and John Powell.

In 2015, Tina performed for the League of Legends World Championship at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Millions of people watched her online! She has also been a special guest performer at big events like Comic Con and BlizzCon, which are popular with gamers. Tina has played with Video Games Live, a concert series that performs music from video games.

Guo performing with Beyond the Black at Wacken Open Air 2019

Tina has appeared on many TV shows. She played "Beat It" on her electric cello on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. She also performed with Carrie Underwood at the American Country Music Awards. You might have seen her on Dancing with the Stars with Carlos Santana or on Jimmy Kimmel Live! with Ellie Goulding.

Her instrumental metal music video for "Queen Bee" won an award at the Downtown Los Angeles Film Festival. You can even download her songs "Queen Bee" and "Forbidden City" to play on Rock Band for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3! Metal Hammer Magazine called her "an international sensation."

Tina has toured with blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa and with Hans Zimmer. In 2017, she went on tour to promote her album "Game On!" In 2018, she played the main theme song for the video game God of War with Inon Zur.

Musical Recordings

Tina Guo has recorded many albums. Her first solo CD was called Autumn Winds, which was a mix of classical and new-age music. Some of her other albums include The Journey, Eternity, and Cello Metal, which is a full metal album. She also released Hollywood's Greatest Themes, which features her versions of famous movie soundtracks, and Game On!. Her recent album is called Dies Irae.

Tina's cello playing can be heard in many movies and video games. She was the cello soloist for the music in films like Sherlock Holmes, Iron Man 2, and Clash of the Titans. She also played on the scores for video games like Diablo III, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and Journey. The music for Journey was even nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media!

Tina also played the electric cello for the famous Wonder Woman theme song in the 2016 movie Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice with Hans Zimmer. She played it again for the Wonder Woman standalone film and its sequel, Wonder Woman 1984.

She has recorded on hundreds of albums with many different artists. These include John Legend, Ciara, and David Archuleta. She was also featured on Two Steps From Hell's album SkyWorld. Her 2016 album Inner Passion with pianist Peter Kater was very popular, reaching number four on the Billboard New Age Albums chart.

Instruments She Plays

Tina Guo plays on a special cello made in 1878 by Gand & Bernardel. For her electric cello performances, she uses a Custom Tina Guo Model Yamaha SVC-200. She is supported by Yamaha and has played their instruments at big music shows.

Personal Life

Tina Guo has also written a book called "Event Horizons of Yin and Yang." It's a collection of her thoughts and poems.

Discography

• Autumn Winds (2011)
• The Journey (2011)
• Eternity (2013)
• Ray of Light (2014)
• A Cello Christmas (2014)
• Cello Metal (2015)
• Inner Passion (2016) (with Peter Kater)
• Game On! (2017)
• Winter Night: Traces In The Snow (2020) (with Leo Z)
• Dies Irae (2021)

Cello Contributions to Films and Games