Chen Yi

A prolific composer who blends Chinese and Western traditions, Chen Yi has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment of the Arts, the Lieberson Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Charles Ives Living Award, First Prize in the Chinese National Composition Contest, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Stoeger Prize, the Lili Boulanger Award, the Herb Alpert Award, the Eddie Medora King Award, and the ASCAP Music Award. She has held a professorship at the Conservatory of Music and Dance in the University of Missouri-Kansas City since 1998. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2005, and the American Academy of Arts & Letters in 2019. Recent world premieres of her works have included Introduction, Andante, and Allegro by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra; Fire for 12 Players by the Grossman Ensemble; Totem Poles for organ at the AGO national conference in Kansas City; Pearle River Overture by the Guangzhou Symphony; and Southern Scenes for flute, pipa, and orchestra by the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra. Born in China, Ms. Chen received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Central Conservatory in Beijing, and a doctorate degree from Columbia University. Her composition teachers included Wu Zu-qiang, Chou Wen-chung, and Mario Davidovsky.