Chen Yi
Chen Yi (b. 1953)
Chinese-born American composer Chen Yi began violin and piano studies at age three, but the Cultural Revolution interrupted her musical progress in 1966. She later became the first Chinese woman to earn a master's degree in composition, studying at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, then earned her doctorate from Columbia University. A Distinguished Professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, she blends Chinese and Western musical traditions, transcending cultural and musical boundaries. Her notable choral works include the Chinese Myths Cantata and Distance Can't Keep Us Two Apart, commissioned by the American Choral Directors Association. Her music synthesizes pentatonic scales and modal structures from Chinese music with Western classical forms.
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