Composer Yao Chen

In works of various dimensions, YAO Chen seeks paths toward transcendence. His music, always ritual in nature, eschews contemporary vogues and instead aims at a timelessness and an otherness that exists beyond the standard categories – music for the moment, but also music for then and music for what lies ahead.  Whether his work is brittle or forceful, or often both in coexistence, melancholy and a sense of wonder are recurring characteristics, as is an internationalist orientation grounded in a quest for maximal musical meaning.  His perceptions on musical time, timbre, intonation, pulsation, and expression are always at frontiers: between the old and the new, between the East and the West, between irrational mysticism and rational logic.  While devoting himself mainly to the field of contemporary art music, YAO also experiments with other genres, writing music for films and theatre productions.   Cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary concepts permeate his creative inspiration and compositional output, presenting his understanding of the value of new music in enlivening global cultures.

His creative vision and aesthetic pursuit have resulted in his many compositions, such as orchestral works Garden:Unearthing the Way Home, From the Vessel of Ancient Souls and Sentiments:Autumn, the instrumental theatre piece Paramita, the three-act theatre piece Pipa Plays Opera, pipa concerto Contemplation on Tanyao Caves, oboe concertino The Supplicant, and many Chinese-Western mixed ensemble works including Emanations of Tara for pipa, piano, violin, cello and clarinets, Tsanglang…Tsanglang for flute, zheng and viola, Yearning for zheng and double bass, Jun for pipa and double bass. These pieces not only demonstrate his talent in navigating situations covering a wide emotional spectrum and dramaturgical elements in music writing, but also reveal his versatility in structuring musical forms that embrace mixed instruments, musical languages and styles.

In recent years, his music has received a significant amount of recognition in many distinguished international arenas.   His music has been performed by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (Grammy winner), Orchestre National de Lorraine, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, China Philharmonic, Beijing Symphony Orchestra, China National Center of Performing Arts Orchestra (China NCPA Orchestra), Suzhou Symphony Orchestra, Pacifica String Quartet (Grammy Winner), Quatuor Diotima, eighth blackbird (Grammy winner), Tang Quartet, Civitas Ensemble (from Chicago Symphony Orchestra), Camerata Woodwind Quintet, Quintet of the Americas, New Fromm Players, Earplay Ensemble, Israel Contemporary Players, Conundrum, Wild Rumpus New Music Collective, TianYing Chinese Ensemble, Beijing New Music Ensemble, etc.   YAO has collaborated with countless artists, including conductors Lv Jia, Cliff Colnot, Jacques Mercier, Rei Hotoda, Chen Lin, Huang Yi and Lio Kuokman, violin virtuoso Siow Lee-Chin and He Wei, viola virtuoso Yunjie(Jay) Liu, Xu Peijun and Veit Hertemstein, double bassists DaXun Zhang, Michael Cameron and Chen Han-Jui, sopranos Tony Arnold and Allison Angelo, flutists Denis Bouriakov and Clara Novakova, pianist Nareh Arghamanyan and Luo Wei, bayan players Luo Han and Stanislav Venglevski, harpist Nicolas Tulliez, pipa Virtuosi Yang Wei, Yang Jing and Lan Weiwei, zheng player Yu-Chen Wang, Bass-baritone Shen Yang, Kun Opera singer Lu Jia, Xiao Xiangping, Wang Xin among many others.

He has also received commissions, awards and fellowships from many prestigious organizations such as the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University, Mellon Collaborative Fellowship for Arts Practice and Scholarship at University of Chicago, New Music USA, Radio France (Festival Presence and Alla Breve), ASCAP, Barnett Family Foundation Flute Competition, Leonard Bernstein Fund, Art Institute of Chicago & Silk Road Chicago Project, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Suzhou Symphony Orchestra, China NCPA Orchestra,  Axiom Brass Quintet, TMSK Liu Tianhua Composition Competition, Greece International Composition Competition, East Carolina University Orchestral Composition Competition, Aspen Music Festival, Chinese Fine Arts Society International Composition Competition, Viacom-Sumner M. Redstone Foundation in China, Central Conservatory of Music, University of Chicago, etc.

YAO has shared his music with audiences at many music festivals throughout the world, including the Radio France, Tanglewood Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Hong Kong Arts Festival, ISCM’s World Music Days (Slovenia), Centre Acanthes Festival, Pacific Music Festival in Japan, Asian Composers League Festival (Israel, Singapore and Japan), Moscow International Accordion Competition, International Tianjin Accordion Festival, Shanghai Contemporary Music Festival, Hong Kong WestKowloon M+ Pavilion, Deutsch-Chinesisches Classic Music Festival (Germany), Stode Musicvecka(Sweden), Beijing Modern Music Festival, Chicago Contempo Concerts, June In Buffalo Contemporary Festival, Poznan Musical Spring Festival (Poland), SoundField Music Festival (Chicago), soundSCAPE Music Festival (Italy), Random Access Music New Music Festival and the Music of Now Marathon Festival in New York City, East Carolina University New Music Festival, University of Louisville New Music Festival.

His music can be found not only on many labels such as Cedille Records, Navona Records, Blue Griffin Records and Beijing Global Audio-Visual Publishing House, but also on Youtube, Spotify, NetEase Music and many public media.  Some of his scores has been published by Central Conservatory of Music Press and distributed by Universal Edition.

YAO embarked on his lifelong musical journey in the People’s Republic of China, where he received training in composition at the Xinghai Conservatory of Music High School and then at the Central Conservatory of Music. He gained his Ph.D in Music Composition from the University of Chicago. He is currently professor of composition at Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. In the past, he has hold Lectureships and professorships at the University of Chicago Music Department, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Music, the Illinois State University School of Music, and the Soochow University School of Music in China.

—————————–

YAO is his family name, and Chen is his given name.

—————————–

作曲家姚晨

在作曲家姚晨多样化的创作与思考维度中，他一直在寻找超然性。他的音乐本质上具有仪式感，规避了当代的时尚语汇，在标准和分类之外寻求一种非时间和相异性。一种瞬时的音乐，一种此时彼时的音乐。无论他的音乐是敏感纤腻、强悍有力，或是两者同时并存，忧鬱和疏离感无处不在。 在他对音乐意义无止境的追求中凸显了他国际主义的人文姿态。

根植于东方和西方的音乐传统，姚晨的音乐语言充分运用了当代作曲技法的开放性融合了二者。他对音乐时间、音色、律动、结构及表情的感知都处于许多临界地带：新与旧，东与西，非理性的神秘与理性的逻辑感。同时，对独立电影和实验剧场的涉猎也有效地拓宽了他的音乐种类和风格。这些跨媒介感知和跨文化的审美深深渗透在他的创作之中。 在他的乐队作品《造园》《远渡》《秋怀》、琵琶与管弦乐队《昙曜五相》、双簧管小协奏曲《奥菲欧的恳请》、器乐剧场《波罗密多》、戏剧空间《琵琶弹戏：西厢三折》、中西混合室内乐《劝君更尽一杯酒》《骏》《沧浪》《婵娟》等作品中都有集中的呈现，他们充分展示了作曲家在处理音乐戏剧性、混合不同音乐材料风格等方面的创作才能。

作为一个活跃的作曲家，姚晨和许多的中美音乐家都有着密切的合作。这些音乐家包括指挥家 Cliff Colnot、 Rei Hotoda、Jacques Mercier、 陈琳、黄屹、长笛演奏家Denis Bouriakov、Clara Novakova、Brook Ferguson、张毕乐、小提琴演奏家萧丽君、于苑青、何为、杜玄、 中提琴演奏家刘韵杰、徐沛珺、Veit Hertemstein，竖琴演奏家Nicolas Tulliez、郭悦、 单簧管演奏家Guy Yehuda、琵琶演奏家杨惟、杨靖、兰维薇、古琴演奏家陈雷激、古筝演奏家王于真、马林巴演奏家林威震、竹笛演奏家张维良、王华、巴扬手风琴演奏家Stanislav Venglevski、罗汉、低音提琴演奏家张达寻、Michael Cameron、陈翰叡、低男中音歌唱家沈洋, 昆曲艺术家吕佳和萧向平等等。

他的作品被许多重要的大型演奏团体演奏过，包括获得格莱美古典大奖的美国Saint Paul室内交响乐团、美国Pacifica弦乐四重奏团和美国eighth blackbird六重奏团。 另外，著名的美国St. Luke’s 交响乐队、法国Lorraine国家交响乐团、加拿大Winnipeg交响乐团、中国国家大剧院管弦乐团、中国爱乐乐团、四川交响乐团、北京交响乐团、中央音乐学院交响乐团、美国 Promusica 室内交响乐团 、芝加哥交响乐团麾下的Civitas Ensemble、 美国Tanglewood 音乐节New Fromm Players、纽约茱莉亚新音乐团，法国Diotima Quatuor弦乐四重奏团，新加坡Tang弦乐四重奏团，以色列当代音乐团, 香港新音乐团，加拿大New Music Concerts， 美国铜管五重奏团Axiom Brass Quintet, 美国Camerata和Quintet of the Americas木管五重奏团等均成功演绎过姚晨的音乐作品。

他的音乐也常出现在许多世界顶级的音乐节和音乐厅上，比如美国Tanglewood音乐节，美国Aspen音乐节，日本太平洋国际音乐节，香港艺术节，斯洛文尼亚举办的国际当代音乐协会World Music Days音乐节， 法国Centre Acanthes当代音乐节， 莫斯科国际手风琴大赛，法国巴黎Festival Presences，亚洲作曲家联盟音乐节（以色列，新加坡，日本）， 美国芝加哥SoundField音乐节和Contempo音乐会系列，美国路易威尔大学新音乐节，意大利soundSCAPE 音乐节，波兰波兹南之春音乐节， 瑞典Stode Musicveckai音乐节，德国Deutsch-Chinesisches古典音乐节，美国June In Buffalo当代音乐节，纽约茱莉亚学院的Focus 音乐节，杭州国际音乐节，台湾高雄国际打击乐节，中国北京现代音乐节，中国中央音乐学院民族音乐节，上海音乐学院国际中提琴音乐节Viva la Viola,中国天津国际手风琴艺术节等等。

许多国际音乐组织曾授予姚晨诸多荣誉、奖项和委约，包括美国作曲家、作家及出版商协会，美国新音乐（New Music USA），美国哈佛大学Fromm音乐基金会，美国伯恩斯坦基金会，法国国家广播电台 (Festival Presence 和 Alla Breve)，纽约WQXR电台，美国匹兹堡交响乐团，美国Orpheus室内交响乐团，芝加哥艺术学院，美国Barnett家族基金会音乐比赛，美国中华才艺协会国际作曲比赛，加拿大Winnipeg交响乐团，希腊国际作曲比赛，中国TMSK刘天华中国民乐作曲比赛，美国东卡罗莱纳大学交响乐队作曲比赛，北京现代音乐节, 中央音乐学院，上海音乐学院，广东民族乐团, 苏州交响乐团, 以及国家大剧院管弦乐团。另外，他也曾担任美国Salvatore Martirano国际作曲比赛和Red Note国际作曲比赛的评委，还曾受邀担任2014伊利诺伊州立大学Red Note新音乐节的艺术总监，及2018年芝加哥大学Gray Center 艺术家兼客座教授。他也被世界著名的艺术院校邀请给予专题讲座，比如巴黎国立高等音乐舞蹈学院，米兰音乐学院， 美国茱莉亚学院，加利福尼亚大学伯克利分校音乐系，北京大学蔡元培讲堂、北京电影学院摄影系等。

姚晨出生于中国广东，成长于中国大西北，曾在广州星海音乐学院附中和中央音乐学院接受严格的作曲训练。在中国的曾跟随过的导师包括曹光平教授、严冬教授、苏夏教授、姚恒璐教授、高为杰教授。在美国芝加哥大学主要跟随Shulamit Ran 和 Marta Ptaszynska攻读作曲博士学位。先后执教于美国芝加哥大学音乐系、美国伊利诺伊大学香槟分校音乐学院、美国伊利诺伊州立大学音乐学院及中国苏州大学音乐学院。目前为中国北京中央音乐学院作曲教授, 作曲教研室主任。

https://www.universaledition.com/chen-yao-8473

https://www.youtube.com/@samyao76

Email：samyao@hotmail.com