Chen Yi Is This Year's Karel Husa Visiting Professor of Composition

Chen Yi, a composer noted for her skillful drawing together of Eastern and Western music and the 2002 - 3 Karel Husa Visiting Professor of Composition, will be the focus of two free events: a public concert and a lecture. In addition, she will provide instruction for composition students in the School of Music.

On Sunday, October 13, Chen will discuss her music at 8:15p.m. in the Iger Lecture Hall. On Monday, October 14, student and faculty musicians will perform selections of Chen's chamber music at 8:15 p.m. in Ford Hall.

A native of China, Chen was born in 1953 into a family of doctors with an interest in music. At age three she began training as a violinist in the European classical tradition. When the Cultural Revolution overtook the country in the 1960s, Chen was sent to a forced labor camp, where she was introduced to Chinese folk music. The fusing of Western choral and orchestral idioms with traditional Eastern tonalities --- the trademark of Chen's work --- had its beginnings in that troubled time.

In 1986 she came to the United States, where she established herself as a violinist, ethnomusicologist, and composer. She has been commissioned to write works for a number of orchestras and ensembles, including the Central Philharmonic of China, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. Her compositions have been performed throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States.

In 2001 the Ithaca College Choir performed the world premiere of Chen's vocal work Xuan, which the choir had commissioned.

Chen's many honors include the 1996 Sorel Medal for Excellence in Music from the Center for Women in Music at New York University, the Elise Stoeger Award from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the Charles Ives Living Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

She is currently the Lorena Searcy Cravens/Millsap Missouri Distinguished Professor in Music Composition at the conservatory in the University of Missouri - Kansas City.

The Husa visiting professorship was created 15 years ago to honor former longtime faculty member and Pulitzer Prize - winning composer Karel Husa. Past Husa visiting professors have included Samuel Adler, George Crumb, Libby Larson, and John Harbison.

Photo by Jim Hair