Miller Theatre presents A Composer Portrait Of Chen Yi
By: A.A. Cristi Oct. 26, 2017
Shaped by her experience coming of age during the Cultural Revolution, Chen Yi's early influences included Chinese traditional music and Western classical music. She is a master of contemporary technique and a strong advocate for music's power to connect audiences of different cultural backgrounds. In the words of The New York Times, "Chen Yi's music is about storytelling and theater, and a search for striking and original effects." The spirited Curtis 20/21 Ensemble will take on Chen's impressive chamber works, including the evocative Happy Rain on a Spring Night. ?
ARTISTS:
Chen Yi, composer
Curtis 20/21 Ensemble
David Ludwig, artistic director
PROGRAM:
Shuo Chang (2013)
Three Bagatelles from China West (2006)
Happy Rain on a Spring Night (2004)
Qi (1997)
Sparkle (1992)
Near Distance (1988)
As a Distinguished Professor at the the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, a prolific composer, and recipient of the Ives Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Dr. Chen Yi blends Chinese and Western traditions, transcending cultural and musical boundaries. Her music has reached a wide range of audiences and inspired peoples of different cultural backgrounds throughout the world. She holds a BA and MA in music composition from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and a DMA from Columbia University in New York City, studying composition with Wu Zuqiang, Chou Wen-chung, and Mario Davidovsky. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005.
Chen's music has been performed and commissioned by the world's leading musicians and ensembles, including Yehudi Menuhin, Yo-Yo Ma, Evelyn Glennie, the Cleveland Orchestra, the BBC, Seattle, Pacific, and Singapore Symphonies, the Brooklyn, NY, and LA Philharmonic, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Her music has also been recorded on many labels, including Bis, New Albion, CRI, Teldec, Telarc, Albany, New World, Naxos, Quartz, Delos, Angel, Bridge, Nimbus, KIC, and China Record Company.
Chen has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation (1996) and the National Endowment for the Arts (1994), as well as the Lieberson Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1996). Other honors include first prize from the Chinese National Composition Contest, Lili Boulanger Award, NYU Sorel Medal Award, CalArts / Alpert Award, UT Eddie Medora King Composition Prize, ASCAP Concert Music Award, Elise Stoeger Award from The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Friendship Ambassador Award from Edgar Snow Fund, UMKC Kauffman Award in Artistry/Scholarship and in Faculty Service, and Honorary Doctorates from Lawrence University, Baldwin Wallace University, University of Portland, and The New School.
A strong advocate of new music, American composers, Asian composers, and women in music, Chen has served on the advisory or educational board of the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Chamber Music America, Meet The Composer, the American Music Center, New Music USA, the American Composers Orchestra, the League of Composers/ISCM, the International Alliance of Women in Music, and the Women's Philharmonic Advocacy. She has supported many composers, conductors, musicians (including dozens of excellent performers on Chinese traditional instruments), music educators, and students through her tireless work over the past three decades.
Curtis 20/21 is the contemporary music ensemble of the Curtis Institute of Music. Flexible in size and scope, the group performs a wide range of music from the 20th and 21st centuries. Recently the group has collaborated with eighth blackbird, Matthias Pintscher, and Charles Dutoit, and has performed works by resident composers John Corigliano, Joan Tower, and George Crumb. Curtis 20/21 is also committed to performing music by Curtis composers and commissioning works from Curtis students and alumni. Open to all students, the ensemble is flexible in size and scope to include works for solo performers, chamber groups, and larger ensembles with conductor.
David Ludwig is "a composer with something urgent to say" (Philadelphia Inquirer). His music has been described as "arresting and dramatically hued" (The New York Times) and "supercharged with electrical energy and raw emotion" (Fanfare). Ludwig has written for many prominent artists, including Jonathan Biss, Jennifer Koh, the Dover and Borromeo quartets, eighth blackbird, ECCO, and orchestras including the Philadelphia, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, and National Symphonies. In 2013 his choral work, "The New Colossus," was selected to open the private prayer service for President Obama's second inauguration. In 2012 NPR Music selected him as one of the Top 100 Composers Under Forty in the world.
Ludwig is the recipient of the First Music Award, a two-time winner of the Independence Foundation Fellowship, and a Theodore Presser Foundation Career Grant, as well as awards from New Music USA, American Composers Forum, American Music Center, and the National Endowment for the Arts. He has had multiple residencies at the Yaddo and MacDowell artist colonies, the Isabella Gardner Museum and Marlboro Music. Ludwig has served on the faculty of Yellow Barn and the Ravinia Steans Institute, and is Artistic Director of the Curtis Young Artist Summer Program.
Born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Ludwig comes from several generations of eminent musicians including grandfather Rudolf Serkin and great-grandfather Adolf Busch. He holds degrees from Oberlin, The Manhattan School, the Curtis Institute, The Juilliard School, and a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. Ludwig serves as the director of the composition faculty of Curtis and is the Gie and Lisa Liem Artistic Advisor and director of the Curtis 20/21 Contemporary Music Ensemble.
For the complete 2017-2018 season schedule, please visit www.millertheatre.com
Columbia University's Miller Theatre is located north of the Main Campus Gate
at 116th St. & Broadway on the ground floor of Dodge Hall.
or via the Miller Theatre Box Office, at 212.854.7799.
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