"Zhiyi's music demonstrates an innate lyricism, and also shows a great deal of craft and skill. Like many composers he seeks to fuse the music of Asian heritage with the techniques and forms of Western classical music, and he does so in a very convincing manner. His Asian background is apparent, but he avoids clichés and the obvious. His music demonstrates a broad emotional range, as well, and he can paint effectively on both large- and small-scale musical canvases."

-Marc Satterwhite, Director of Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition

"The greatest composer of all time in our opera house."

-Guoyong Zhang, Former president of Shanghai Opera House

"The Aroma of Exotic is very interesting and can be viewed as a cross-cultural experience by an Occidental experiencing Oriental culture or vice versa. At times I was reminded of the dawn section of Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe, and I liked this work a lot."

-Geoff Pearce, Music & Vision

"The score is deep and inspired by an exceptional musical talent! "

- Ferdinando Nazzaro, Artistic Director of KLK New Music

"This three-movement piece unfolds varied waves of sentiments by distinct expressions of strings. The first part creates an atmosphere where all four instruments resonate as a group in terms of the dynamic change, the shifting of harmony and the collocation of melodic lines. Though it has a long breath and very delicate sound, a latent tension is possessed within the drive of adagio. The second part reveals an inside throbbing by imitating wings of insects to portrait those subtle affections, which touch our inner feelings in a sentimental way. The third part is relatively contrastive, from a tranquil start to an insanely wild presto, then back to peace ultimately. It reflects certain unpredictable mood that twists without signs. The piece adopts western form and vocabulary, yet conveys implicit oriental flavor."

-Alice Jiang, Music Weekly Journal

"The skills in composition and orchestration are very achieved, and the writing tasteful and touching."

-Gabriel Yared, Academy Award-winning Composer

"They sound like an opera!"

-Morton Subotnick, Composer