Chen Yi

Website

As a prolific composer who blends Chinese and Western traditions, transcending cultural and musical boundaries, Dr. Chen Yi* is Distinguished Professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory, and recipient of the Charles Ives Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her music is published by Theodore Presser, commissioned and performed by such musicians and ensembles as Yehudi Menuhin, Yo-Yo Ma, Evelyn Glennie, Chanticleer, Cleveland/Halle/Saxon State Orchestras, BBC/Royal Philharmonics, Seattle/Pacific/Singapore/China National/San Francisco/ Chicago/New Zealand/BBC Symphonies, LA/NY/China Philharmonics, Stuttgart/St. Paul/St. Luke’s Chamber Orchestras, BMOP, Rascher/Prism Saxophone Quartets, Music From China, and Shanghai/Ying Quartets, recorded on Bis/New World/Albany/Bridge/Naxos, and many labels. Major fellowships and commissions were from Guggenheim/Fromm/Roche/Koussevitzky Music Foundations, AAAL, Meet The Composer, Barlow Endowment, Chamber Music America, ACDA, NYSCA and NEA. Honors include top prizes from Chinese National Composition Competition, CalArts/Alpert Award, UT Eddie Medora King Composition Prize, Elise Stoeger Award and ASCAP Concert Music Award. She received bachelor and master’s degrees in composition from Beijing Central Conservatory of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Columbia University in New York. Major composition teachers are Profs. Wu Zu-qiang, Chou Wen-chung and Mario Davidovsky. She hopes that her music can bridge different cultural traditions, to improve understanding between peoples in the world for the peace of our society. She has been inducted to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Letter.

*Chen is the family name.

Photo: Beijing Kuandi