Born in Guiyang, Guizhou province in the Southwest of China, Gong Linna first appeared on stage at the age of five. Since her early childhood she had known that she wanted to become a professional singer. At 16 she began her studies at the Chinese Conservatory of Music where she held her first and highly acclaimed concert as soloist in 1999. 

 

In addition to many other awards, she won the Chinese National Singing Competition in 2000 as best female singer, including the Special Audience Award, gaining the audience votes of over a million Chinese television viewers.

 

In 2002 year she met composer and producer Lao Luo, who had already established himself as one of the masterminds of New Chinese Art Music, and collaborating with him she started a new artistic life. Experiments with world-music-fusion and avant-garde music as well as ethno-musical fieldwork marked the next years. 

 

Gong Linna has performed as soloist with all major Chinese orchestras. With additional studies in classical Qin-songs, field-research on folk-song-techniques and musical experiments and productions in various styles from classical chamber music to pop, Gong Linna consequently expanded her singing techniques. Today she is one of the most outstanding Chinese vocalists, showing an impressive ability to transform traditional vocal sounds into a contemporary art-form.