King of Prussia, PA – Truly masterful in her ability to marry Western performance ideals with the folk music of China, Chen Yi demonstrates her unique sensitivity to balance with
Memory (114-41410 — Score — $5.95), a sad and lovely song of loss for solo violin. The composer wrote this plaintive memorial work in tribute to the passing of her teacher, Professor Lin Yaoji. In the program notes, the composer speaks to her mentor: “I wish you could hear the tune in my
Memory, which sounds like my painful cry out of your name in our Cantonese dialect. I expressed my deep sorrow in the music, to remember your fatherly mentorship. Your meaningful smile will always be with us encouragingly.” For advanced violinists.
As a Distinguished Professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, a prolific composer and recipient of the prestigious Charles Ives Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2001-04), Chen Yi blends Chinese and Western traditions, transcending cultural and musical boundaries. Through doing so, she serves as an ambassador to the arts, creating music that reaches a wide range of audiences, inspiring people with different cultural backgrounds throughout the world. Chen Yi's music has been commissioned by Yehudi Menuhin, Yo-Yo Ma, Evelyn Glennie, the Cleveland Orchestra, the BBC, the Seattle, Pacific, and Singapore Symphonies, the Brooklyn, New York, and Los Angeles Philharmonic, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Raschèr Saxophone Quartet and Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, and more. To find out more about Chen Yi, click here.