Chen Yi

Chen Yi (陈怡; b. Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, April 4, 1953) is a Chinese composer of contemporary classical music. 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. She is also a violinist.

Chen grew up in Guangzhou, China, into a talented family. Her parents were doctors and musicians; her mother played the piano, and her father the violin. Her older sister was a child prodigy, and even today Chen's older sister and younger brother work as professional musicians in China.

Chen began studying piano at the age of three, studying the music of Western composers such as Bach and Mozart. However, once the Cultural Revolution began in 1966, Western influences were severely shunned and the arts were attacked. For ten years, education came to a halt and people were relocated to work in large communes in countryside. Chen's father and older sister were the first to be sent away, but Chen managed to hide in her hometown a while longer, and continued to practice music, but with some impediments: she was forced to stuff a blanket inside her piano in order to dampen the sound, and play her violin with a mute. At age thirteen, she could hide no more. Her house was searched, her possessions were taken, and the rest of her family was dispersed to different locations to perform compulsory labor in the countryside.

Chen used her time spent laboring in the countryside to learn and appreciate the musical traditions present in Chinese folk music. Her connection with folk music would prove a useful tool in diversifying her compositions in later life. At age seventeen, she returned to Guangzhou and began working as concertmaster for the Beijing Opera Troupe.

Chen lived for many years in New York City, and studied composition with Chou Wen-chung and Mario Davidovsky at Columbia University, earning a DMA with distinction. Her husband is the composer Zhou Long. As of 2006, both Chen and Zhou are professors of composition at the University of Missouri–Kansas City Conservatory of Music.

Alongside a great deal of orchestral works, Chen has also made many contributions to the choral repetoire and to the repetoire of traditional Chinese instruments.

Selected Works
String Quartet (1982)
Xian Shi, for viola soloist and orchestra (1983)
Duo Ye, for chamber orchestra (1985)
Symphony 1, for orchestra (1986)
Due Ye No. 2, for full orchestra (1987)
Woodwind Quintet (1987)
The Tide, for traditional Chinese instrumental ensemble (1988)
Overture, for Chinese instrumental orchestra (1989)
Overture No. 2, for Chinese instrumental orchestra (1990)
Suite, for traditional Chinese instrumental ensemble (1991)
Piano Concerto, for piano soloist and orchestra (1992)
Symphony 2, for orchestra (1993)
Ge Xu (Antiphony), for orchestra (1994)
The Linear, for orchestra (1994)
Shuo, for string orchestra or string quintet (1994)
Romance of Hsiao and Ch'in for two violin soloists and string orchestra, or cello and piano (1995)
Chinese Myths Cantata, for male chorus and orchestra with erhu, pipa, yangqin, and zheng (1996)
Fiddle Suite for Chinese huqin solo, and string quartet/string orchestra/full orchestra (1997)
The Golden Flute, for flute soloist and orchestra (1997)
Eleanor's Gift, for cello soloist and orchestra (1998)
Momentum, for orchestra (1998)
Percussion Concerto, for percussion soloist and orchestra, or percussion soloist and piano, percussion ensemble, and string quartet (1998)
KC Capriccio for wind ensemble and mixed choir, or chorus, organ, and percussion soloist (2000)
Chinese Folk Dance Suite, for violin soloist and orchestra (2001)
Tu, for orchestra (2002)
Ballad, Dance and Fantasy, for cello soloist and orchestra (2003)
Caramoor's Summer, for orchestra (2003)
Tu, for symphonic wind ensemble (2003)
Suite for cello and chamber winds (2004)
Symphony 3, for orchestra (2004)
Celebration, for orchestra (2005)
Si Ji (Four Seasons) for orchestra (2005)
Spring in Dresden, for violin soloist and orchestra (2005)
Yangko, for violin soloist and two percussionists (2005)
Ancient Beauty, for dizi (+xun), erhu, pipa, zheng & string orchestra (2006)