As a prolific composer who blends Chinese and Western traditions, transcending cultural and musical boundaries, Dr. Chen Yi is a recipient of the Charles 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. An Honorary Member of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) elected in 2024, she has been inducted to American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2005, and American Academy of Arts & Letters in 2019.
Born in China, Ms. Chen received bachelor’s and master’s 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, 2023), 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, a Pulitzer Prize Finalist with Si Ji (Four Seasons) for orchestra (2006), the Friendship Ambassador Award from Edgar Snow Fund (2002), the UMKC Kauffman Award in Artistry/Scholarship and Faculty Service (2006, 2012, 2019), the Lifetime Achievement Award for Choral Music from the World Youth and Children Choral Artists Association (2022), the Outstanding Alumni Award from the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music (2023) and the UMKC Chancellor’s Award for Career Contributions to the University (2024). She has also received the Sterling Patron Award of Mu Phi Epsilon International Fraternity in 2011 and the Society for American Music Honorary Member Award in 2018. 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). A book “Chen Yi” (an accessible guide to the composer’s background and her works) authored by Leta E. Miller and J. Michele Edwards has been published by University of Illinois Press and released on 12/6/2020.
Chen Yi’s music is published by Theodore Presser Company, commissioned and performed worldwide by such musicians and ensembles as Yehudi Menuhin, Yo-Yo Ma, Evelyn Glennie, Chanticleer, Cleveland/Halle/Saxon State/American Composers Orchestras, NY/LA/China/BBC/Royal/Brooklyn/The Women’s Philharmonics, Seattle/Pacific/Singapore/China National/Boston/San Francisco/Chicago/New Zealand/BBC/Vienna Radio/MDR Leipzig Radio Symphonies, BMOP, Stuttgart/St. Paul/St.Luke’s Chamber Orchestras, Rascher/Prism Saxophone Quartets, Music From China, and Shanghai/Ying Quartets; and recorded in over 150 CDs, on such labels as Bis (02, 03, 04, 11), New Albion (97), CRI (99), Teldec (97, 99 w/ Grammy Award for Colors of Love, 03, 08), New World (08, 09 w/ NPR Top 10 Classical Music Album Award for Sound of the Five), Albany (04, 05, 06, 09, 11, 12, 14, 15, 19, 22, 23), Naxos (07, 08, 09,12,15, 22, 25), Bridge (09,14, 18), and others on Delos, Angel, Nimbus, Cala, Avant, Atma, Hugo, Koch International Classics, Centaur, Eroica, Capstone, Quartz, Innova, DECCA, Navona, Etcetera, XAS, ABRSM, Delphian, Champs Hill, Neuma, and China Record Co. since 1986.
Recent world premieres of Chen Yi’s works have included Children's Suite for orchestra by Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra (4/18/25) and Juilliard Pre-College Symphony (5/3/25), trio The West Lake in Summer by F-Plus Ensemble at UMKC (3/20/25), Never Stop Learning for women choir by Radcliffe Choral Society of Harvard University (5/2/25), and Weeping Memory and Flying Dancers for saxophone ensemble a the Harbin International Saxophone Conference (7/29/25); Dreaming of My Hometown by Xuefei Yang and University Philharmonia in UK (2/24/24), trio Flying Dancers by the Composers Conference Ensemble in NH (8/4/24); Landscape Impression by New Jersey Symphony (6/1/23), Transplanted Seeds by the National Repertory Orchestra (7/19/23) and the KC Symphony (1/12-14/24), a mixed quartet Remember by Loadbang Ensemble (1/15/23), Cello Pieces for Alisa by Alisa Wallerstein in her Fragments 1 concert tour (1/28/2023), Thinking of My Home at Night for mezzo-soprano and piano by Fleur Barron and Julius Drake (3/12/23), and Song of Spring Outing for piano solo by Prof. Yi-yang Chen (3/30/23); Spring for plucking ensemble at the China Conservatory Middle School in Beijing, Song of Spring at the Rivers School Conservatory (4/3/22), Dark Mountains for harp solo by Yolanda Kondonassis (CD released on 4/1/22), Impressions From Chinese Zodiac for saxophone solo at Juilliard School in 2022, piano concerto Brilliant Prospect (co-composed with Zhou Long) by Zhang Haochen and Shenzhen Symphony (12/23/22), a string quartet Tachun by Del Sol Quartet (5/1/21); the 20/21 concert season started with European premiere of Tang Poems Cantata by MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir in Germany (9/27/20) and world premiere of Bamboo Song by pianist Zou Xiang at the China National Center for Performing Arts Concert Hall in China (10/5/20), followed by world premiere performances of two oboe solo works, Elegy by St Paul Chamber Orchestra’s oboe principal Cassie Pilgrim in MN (11/28/20), Mountain Song by Fergus McCready at Royal Academy of Music in UK (6/8/21) to celebrate its 200th anniversary; more premieres in the recent past years include a multi-movement orchestral work 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; 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; and piano concerto Four Spirits by China Philharmonic in Beijing and on its US tour at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2016.
Chen Yi believes that music is a universal language, which can improve understanding between peoples with different cultural backgrounds and help to bring peace in the world.
