Dan-Yi Chen

Dan-Yi Chen is a Taiwanese pianist, performer, and composer.

She was once a music teacher in different schools, as well as a keyboard musician for the National Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan from 2010 to 2013.

Biography

Early life and education

Dan-Yi Chen graduated in the Music Department both in Taipei Municipal Ren-Ai during her junior years, and its affiliated senior high school in National Taiwan Normal University. After high school, she continued her music studies in Taipei National University of the Arts and graduated as Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts. During her studies in the university, she had been learning music together with her professors, namely Prof. Rolf-Peter Wille and Prof. Wang En. She was ranked first place consecutively for her academic performances, as well as receiving various scholarship awards. In addition, she received awards both in national and international piano competitions, including the International Vienna Piano Competition in Japan, the International Taipei Chopin Competition, and the National YAMAHA Piano Competition in Taiwan among others.

Career in music

Experiences

Chen has had many experiences in music. For example, she worked as a pianist in various places like in Taipei Symphony Orchestra (TSO), Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra, and Evergreen Symphony Orchestra among others. She was also admitted in Taiwan Philharmonic and in National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) in 2010. As a Matter of fact, she was the only pianist in Taiwan who holds positions in Taiwan Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, and Taipei Symphony Orchestra (TSO). She also had completed more than ten operas and nearly one hundred stage performances since performing with NSO and TSO. In short, she became a pianist of the elite caliber in Taiwan whose talents range from orchestra, opera, chamber music and choral music.

In addition, she also had experiences teaching music in schools, such as in New Taipei Municipal HsinTien High School and Taipei Municipal Fu-Xing Senior High School. She had also been the music director of the Dolce Jazz Combo in 2006. At the time that she resided in the United States, she became an ACTIVE member of the Music Teacher's Association of California (MTAC).

Her profound experience and amazing strength earned her continuous performance invitations. For instance, she was invited to perform for the 2009 World Games opening ceremony. She also performed with the former Taiwan first lady Christine Chow and Taipei Philharmonic Chamber Choir at the Carnegie Concert Hall, New York in 2011. Since 2005, she had been performing in many places around the world, such as in New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Singapore, Malaysia, and China among others.

Cooperation

Since 2000, she actively expanded cooperation with domestic orchestras and served as a pianist (or guest pianist) for many large operas and festivals including the ten opera productions for Taiwan Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) and Taipei Symphony Orchestra (TSO). In fact, she was recommended as the professional instrumental accompanist by NSO. Meanwhile, she already performed with some famous national musicians such as Tai-Li Chu, Wu Bai-Yu-Hsi, and Mewas Lin.

She also happened to perform with a large number of international artists including conductors Neal Stulberg (USA), Helmuth Rilling (German), and Marcello Rota (Italy), as well as famous international musicians including José Carreras (Spain), Renée Fleming (USA), Andrea Bocelli (Italy), and Ryu Goto (Japan).

Opera productions and album recordings

She worked with Taiwan Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra(NSO) and Taipei Symphony Orchestra (TSO) to complete the opera productions. Some of her opera performances are Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Così fan tutte and Don Giovanni, Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus, and Richard Strauss' Elektra among others.

On the other hand, some of her chamber music recordings include "Clap Your Hands" and "Return to Nature, Taiwan". The former was produced and composed by David L. Wen, winner of the "Best Non-Opera Film Music" during the of the 12th Golden Horse Awards in 1983. The latter, which was produced Stone Music, was ranked the No. 1 album in the "Best Selling" and the "Best Audience Choice" categories in Eslite.

Improvised accompaniment for dancing and arrangement

With her wide array of interests in the diverse music forms, she also unleashed her talent of piano improvisation and composing. For instance, she served as the improvised piano accompaniment for Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, and the Dance Department of Taipei National University of the Arts, as well as performing an arranged series of Taiwanese folk songs and modern music works. One of her orchestra arrangements, which was adapted from one of Beethoven's sonata "Moonlight", premiered in Taipei in September 2003. The performance, which was conducted by Felix Chiu-Sen Chen with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, received wide notice and enthusiastic response.

Acclaims

She received acclaims from the conductors with whom she had worked with. For example, Shao-Chia Lu, former Music Director of Niedersachsische Staatsoper Hannover in Germany, stated: "She has not only the amazing skills but also the keen musicality". In addition, the Music Director of San Diego Symphony Orchestra Jahja Ling claimed that: "She is one of the best musicians whom I have worked with".

Discography

Filmography

The following is a list of press and television interviews of her:

• LATWTV: Interview with Sophia Dan-Yi Chen - The Pianist of Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra

• LATWTV: Interview with Sophia Dan-Yi Chen - The Pianist of Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra: About Her Music World

• Pacific Times: Art and Culture Column "The Beauty of the Music: Interview Pianist Sophia Dan-Yi Chen"

External links

• Dan-Yi Chen's personal webpage