Chen Yi (composer) facts for kids

Chen Yi (simplified Chinese: 陈怡; traditional Chinese: 陳怡; pinyin: Chén Yí) is a famous Chinese-American composer and violinist. She was born on April 4, 1953. Chen Yi is known around the world for her music, which blends Chinese and Western styles. She was the first Chinese woman to earn a Master's degree in music composition from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.

Chen Yi has received many important awards for her work. She was a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her piece called Si Ji (which means "Four Seasons"). She has also won awards from groups like the Koussevitzky Music Foundation and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2019, she became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which is a big honor.

Early life and musical beginnings

Chen Yi grew up in Guangzhou, China. Her parents were doctors who loved Western classical music. Chen Yi and her two siblings started music lessons when they were very young, at age three. She began with piano and then learned the violin at age four. She was very talented and could remember and sing many famous classical pieces by composers like Mozart and Beethoven. By the time she was 13, she was already a skilled violinist.

During a time called the Cultural Revolution in China, Chen Yi's studies were stopped. She and her siblings had to go to a work camp in the countryside. Even there, she kept playing her violin, but she was only allowed to play "revolutionary songs." When she was 17, she returned to Guangzhou. She became the main violinist and a composer for the Peking Opera in Beijing. In 1978, Chen Yi was accepted into the Central Conservatory of Music. She earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees there. She also spent summers studying traditional Chinese folk music. This research became a very important part of how she developed her own musical style.

Career as a composer and teacher

After her studies in China, Chen Yi moved to New York City. She continued to study composition at Columbia University, where she earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree. From 1993 to 1996, she was a special composer for the Women's Philharmonic orchestra. In 1996, Chen Yi made history. She was the first woman in the United States to present a whole evening of her own symphonic and choral music with multimedia in San Francisco.

Her teachers included famous composers like Wu Zu-qiang in Beijing and Chou Wen-chung and Mario Davidovsky in New York. Since 1998, Chen Yi has been a distinguished professor at the University of Missouri–Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. Before that, she taught at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. She is married to another composer, Zhou Long. He also studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and is a professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Chen Yi has written many pieces for orchestras. She has also created a lot of music for choirs (groups of singers) and for smaller groups of instruments, known as chamber music. Some of her works even feature traditional Chinese instruments. Her music is published by the Theodore Presser Company.

Selected musical works

Chen Yi has composed a wide variety of music. She writes for many different instruments and groups. Her works often combine the sounds and ideas of Chinese and Western music.

Music for solo instruments

Chen Yi has written pieces for single instruments. These include works for piano, cello, flute, violin, marimba, and even traditional Chinese instruments like the pipa. Some examples are:

• Ba Ban, for piano (1999)
• Bamboo Dance, for solo piano (2014)
• Jing Marimba, for solo marimba (2010)
• Memory, for solo cello, flute, or violin (2011)
• Points, for solo pipa (1991)
• Two Chinese Bagatelles, piano solo for children (2000)

Music for small groups (chamber ensemble)

She has also composed many pieces for two or more performers. These often feature combinations of Western and Chinese instruments.

• Ancient Dances, for pipa and percussion (2005)
• Bright Moonlight, for voice and piano (2004)
• China West Suite, for two pianos (2007)
• Fisherman's Song, for violin and piano (1999)
• Three Bagatelles from China West, for flute and piano (2006)

Music for voices (vocal/choral)

Chen Yi is well-known for her choral music, which is music written for choirs. Many of these pieces are sung without instruments (a cappella).

• Arirang, for a cappella SATB chorus (1999)
• Chinese Mountain Songs, for a cappella treble chorus (2002)
• A Set Of Chinese Folk Songs, for different types of choirs (1994-1998)
• Spring Dreams, for a cappella chorus (1999)
• Tang Poems, for a cappella male choir

Music for orchestra

She has written many large-scale works for full orchestras.

• Blue, Blue Sky, for large orchestra (2012)
• Si Ji (Four Seasons), for large orchestra (2005)
• Symphony No. 2, for large orchestra (1993)
• Symphony No. 4 'Humen 1839', for large orchestra (2009)

Concertos (orchestra with soloist)

Chen Yi has also written concertos, which are pieces for a solo instrument playing with an orchestra.

• Four Spirits, concerto for piano and orchestra
• The Golden Flute, concerto for flute and orchestra
• Percussion Concerto, for solo percussion and orchestra
• Southern Scenes, a double concerto for flute, pipa, and orchestra

See also

In Spanish: Chen Yi (compositora) para niños

• Down to the Countryside Movement