Chen Yi

" ... a composer who has received commissions from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Kronos Quartet and the flautist James Galway, and whose music has been performed by the San Francisco Symphony, the BBC Philharmonic and the American Composers Orchestra, can reasonably said to have arrived.

To Western-trained ears, the most exciting thing about Ms. Chen’s music is the exciting new vista of of sonic possibilities it presents...

At first glance, Ms. Chen’s musical language is a strange hybrid of Chinese and Western elements. The “Chinese Myths Cantata” embodies this synthesis: the Western element represented by Chanticleer and the Women’s Philharmonic; the Eastern, by the Lily Cai Chinese Dance Company. But the piece is undeniably Chinese in its framework, incorporating three well-known Chinese creation myths. An exciting theatrical extravaganza with an element of audience participation, it also promises to be a vibrant assertion of the human spirit. "

Finding Her Way to the Top of Two Worlds
By Matthew Daines
From the New York Times
Sunday, June 8, 1996

Matthew Daines is a broadcaster and music critic in Davis, California.

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