Chen Yi (composer)

Chen Yi (simplified Chinese: 陈怡; traditional Chinese: 陳怡; pinyin: Chén Yí) (born April 4, 1953) is a Chinese-American composer of contemporary classical music and violinist. Chen Yi has earned global fame as a prolific composer who integrates Chinese and Western traditions, transcending cultural and musical boundaries. She was the first Chinese woman to receive a Master of Arts (M.A.) in music composition from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Chen was a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her composition Si Ji (Four Seasons), and has received awards from the Koussevitzky Music Foundation and American Academy of Arts and Letters (Lieberson Award), as well as fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2010, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from The New School and in 2012, she was awarded the Brock Commission from the American Choral Directors Association. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2019.
Born to parents who are both doctors and enthusiasts of Western classical music and culture, Chen Yi and her two siblings began music lessons at age three. She began learning piano and at age four was introduced to violin. She memorized works by classical composers like Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky and was able to sing their compositions note for note. At age 13, she was already an accomplished violinist.
During the Cultural Revolution, Chen and her siblings' studies were interrupted as they were taken to a work camp in the countryside. She continued to play the violin, but was only allowed to perform "revolutionary songs". At age 17, she returned to her hometown Guangzhou and became the concertmaster and composer of the Peking Opera in Beijing. In 1978, Chen was admitted to the Central Conservatory of Music where she received a bachelor's and master's degree. In addition, she spent summers studying Chinese folk music and considers this research as an important part of her musical development.
Chen lived in New York City for many years and studied composition at Columbia University, earning a DMA with distinction. From 1993 to 1996, she served as Composer in Residence in the Women’s Philharmonic. In 1996, Chen made history as the first woman in the United States to present a full evening of multimedia concert with her symphonic and choral works in San Francisco for a whole evening. Her teachers included Wu Zu-qiang in Beijing as well as Chou Wen-chung and Mario Davidovsky in New York. Since 1998, Chen has been the Lorena Cravens/Millsap/Missouri Distinguished Professor at the University of Missouri–Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. Previously, she was on faculty at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. She is married to composer Zhou Long, a fellow alumnus of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and fellow professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Alongside a great number of orchestral works, Chen has also made many contributions to the choral repertoire and the chamber music repertoire, including works written for traditional Chinese instruments. Chen's works are published by the Theodore Presser Company.