Chen Yi

Born in 1953 in Guangzhou, China, Chen Li’s musical education was disrupted by the Cultural Revolution in 1966, when for a time she lived in a forced labor camp, carrying rocks and planting rice. Chen eventually became the first woman in China to be awarded a master’s degree in composition, and shortly afterwards (in 1986) she left her native country for the US. Chen’s compositional style blends strong elements from her Chinese heritage with the western classical music she had loved since childhood. Their combination can be heard vividly in pieces such as Chen’s Percussion Concerto (1998), with its phalanx of Chinese instruments and a vocal part modelled on Beijing opera. Sound of the Five (for solo cello and string quartet), Wu Yu (in various versions), and The Golden Flute are other works which typify Chen’s particular brand of fusion, a unique soundworld stretching across her extensive output of chamber, orchestral, and vocal music.