Chen Yi

Item

Chen Yi
Name
Chen Yi
Bio
As a prolific composer who blends Chinese and Western traditions, transcending cultural and musical boundaries, Dr. Chen Yi is a recipient of the Ives Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2001. She has been Lorena Cravens/Millsap/Missouri Distinguished Professor at the Conservatory of Music and Dance in the University of Missouri-Kansas City since 1998. She was elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2005, and the American Academy of Arts & Letters in 2019.

Born in China, Ms. Chen received bachelor and master degrees from the Central Conservatory in Beijing, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Columbia University in the City of New York. Her composition teachers included Profs. Wu Zu-qiang, Chou Wen-chung, and Mario Davidovsky. She has served as Composer-in-Residence for the Women’s Philharmonic, Chanticleer, and Aptos Creative Arts Center (1993–96) supported by Meet The Composer, and taught on the composition faculty at Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University (1996–98). She has also been Distinguished Visiting Professor in China since 2006.

Fellowships and commissioning awards were received from Guggenheim Foundation (1996), American Academy of Arts and Letters (1996), Fromm Foundation at Harvard University (1994), Koussevitzky Music Foundation at the Library of Congress (1997), and National Endowment for the Arts (1994). Honors include the first prizes from the Chinese National Composition Competition (1985, 2012), the Lili Boulanger Award (1993), the NYU Sorel Medal Award (1996), the CalArts/Alpert Award (1997), the UT Eddie Medora King Composition Prize (1999), the ASCAP Concert Music Award (2001), the Elise Stoeger Award (2002) from Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Friendship Ambassador Award from Edgar Snow Fund (2002), the UMKC Kauffman Award in Artistry/Scholarship and Faculty Service (2006, 2012), and Pulitzer Prize Finalist with Si Ji for orchestra (2006). Honorary Doctorates are from Lawrence University (2002), Baldwin-Wallace College (2008), University of Portland (2009), The New School University (2010), and University of Hartford (2016). She has received the Sterling Patron Award of Mu Phi Epsilon International Fraternity in 2011 and the Society for American Music Honorary Member Award in 2018.

Her music is published by Theodore Presser Company, performed world wide, and recorded in over 100 CDs, on Bis, New Albion, Teldec (w/Grammy Award for Colors of Love), New World (w/NPR Top 10 Classical Music Album Award for Sound of the Five), Albany, Naxos, BMOP/sound, XAS Records, Bridge, Centaur, Innova, Delos, Angel, Nimbus, Cala, Avant, Atma, Hugo, Koch International Classics, Eroica, Capstone, Quartz, and China Record Corporation since 1986.

Most recent premieres have included Introduction, Andante, and Allegro by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, and Fire for 12 players by Grossman Ensemble at Logan Center Performance Hall in the University of Chicago in 2019; piano concerto Four Spirits by China Philharmonic in Beijing and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2016; Totem Poles for organ solo at AGO national conference in Kansas City, Pearle River Overture by Guangzhou Symphony in China, and Southern Scenes for flute, pipa and orchestra by the Hawaii Symphony in Honolulu in 2018.

Chen Yi is the Lorena Searcy Cravens/ Millsap/ Missouri Distinguished Professor of Composition at UMKC. Her published works can be found in the library catalog
Scores
As Like a Raging Fire - Chen Yi...As Like a Raging Fire...
The Ancient Chinese Beauty - Chen YiThe Ancient Chinese Beauty
Ancient Dances
Angel Island Passages
At the Kansas City Chinese New Year ConcertAt the Kansas City Chinese New Year Concert
Ba Yin - Chen YiBa Yin (The Eight Sounds)
Ballad, Dance and Fantasy
Bamboo Dance
Bamboo Song
Bright Moonlight
Burning
Caramoor's Summer
Celebration
China West Suite - Chen YiChina West Suite
Chinese Ancient Dances - Chen YiChinese Ancient Dances: for Clarinet and Piano
Chinese Ancient Dances - Chen YiChinese Ancient Dances: for B-flat Soprano Saxophone and Piano
Chinese Fables - Chen YiChinese Fables
Chinese Folk Dance Suite - Chen YiChinese Folk Dance Suite
Chinese Mountain Songs - Chen YiChinese Mountain Songs
Colors of Naobo: For a Pair of Small Chinese cymbals
Concerto for Reeds
Distance Can't Keep Us Two Apart - Chen YiDistance Can't Keep Us Two Apart
Dragon Rhyme - Chen YiDragon Rhyme
Early Spring
Energetic Duo
From Old Peking Folklore - Chen YiFrom Old Peking Folklore
Feng II
Fountains of KC
Four Spirits
The Han Figurines
Happy Rain on a Spring Night - Chen YiHappy Rain on a Spring Night
Happy Tune
Chen Yi - Impressions from the Chinese ZodiacImpressions from the Chinese Zodiac
Introduction, Andante, and Allegro
Ji-Dong-Nuo - Chen YiJi-Dong-Nuo
Jing Marimba
Jingu Suite
KC Cappriccio - Chen YiKC Capriccio
Know You How Many Petals Falling?
Landscape - Chen YiLandscape
Memory: for Cello - Chen YiMemory: for Cello
Memory: for Flute - Chen YiMemory: for Flute
Memory: for Viola
Memory: for Violin - Chen YiMemory: for Violin
Mountain Song
Nian Hua
Night Thoughts - Chen YiNight Thoughts
Ning - Chen YiNing
Northern Scenes
Not Alone - Chen YiNot Alone; & Happy Birthday to PRISM
Ox Tail Dance - Chen YiOx Tail Dance
Plum Blossom - Chen YiPlum Blossom
Septet - Chen YiSeptet
Shady Grove
Shuo Chang - Chen YiShuo Chang
Si Ji (Four Seasons)
The Soulful and the Perpetual
Southern Scenes: A Double Concerto for Flute, Pipa, and Orchestra
Tachun (Spring Outing)
Three bagatelles from China West - Chen YiThree Bagatelles from China West: for Clarinet and Piano
Three Bagatelles from China West: for Flute and Clarinet
Three Bagatelles from China West: for Flute and Guitar - Chen YiThree Bagatelles from China West: Flute and Guitar
Three Bagatelles from China West: for Flute and Piano - Chen YiThree Bagatelles from China West: for Flute and Piano
Three Bagatelles from China West: for Guanzi and Sheng
Three Bagatelles from China West: for Two Flutes
Three bagatelles from China West - Chen YiThree Bagatelles from China West: for Violin and Cello
Three Dances from China South
Tibetan Tunes - Chen YiTibetan Tunes
To the New Millennium
Tone poem
Totem Poles
 Wind - Chen YiWind
The West Lake - Chen YiThe West Lake
Woodwind Quintet No. 3
Wu Yu - Chen YiWu Yu
Xuan - Chen YiXuan
YangKo - Chen YiYangKo