Artist Spotlight: Dr. Chen Yi

“Music is like a bridge, which could bring people together from different cultural backgrounds, to improve their understandings between each other, for the peace of the world. ”

As a Distinguished Professor at the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance, a prolific composer, and recipient of the Ives Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Dr. Chen Yi blends Chinese and Western traditions, transcending cultural and musical boundaries. Her music has reached a wide range of audiences and inspired peoples of different cultural backgrounds throughout the world (from her website). Read on for a brand new interview with Dr. Yi!

1.)   Tell us a bit about your “art origin story”?  When did you first fall in love with your art?

I started playing the piano and violin in my early childhood in China, because my medical doctor parents were classical music lovers. I am in the middle between my older sister and younger brother. All of us studied music from 3 years old. We listened to records of classical music everyday, which became a part of our lives naturally. I found that the beautiful music is so gripping and attractive that I couldn’t live without it, although I didn’t work hard in practicing when I was young. 

2.)   What role have teachers played in your development as an artist?  Any one stand out?

My childhood violin teacher Mr. ZHENG Ri-hua has taught me about 20 years, with lessons two nights a week until the Cultural Revolution took place, when all education was interrupted in the country. I kept my violin lessons secretly once a week after being sent to the countryside to be reeducated with hard labor work for two years. I have learnt so much from my teacher, not only the music, the technique, but also the passion on music and the persistency in studying.

My music theory teacher Mr. ZHENG Zhong who led me into the creative realm and opened up my heart towards music creation.

My composition teacher at the Central Conservatory, Prof. Wu Zuqiang, who taught me composition in a full course, and guided me to look for my composition language from my cultural roots.

My composition mentors at Columbia University, Prof. Chou Wen-chung who guided me to find my own voice in composition with deep thinking of the cultures in our society, and Prof. Mario Davidovsky who helped me to open my view to unlimited media in music creation, and encouraged me to devote myself to the cultural development in the society where I live.

3.)   What advice would you give to young folks thinking about pursuing an education or career in the arts?

To open your minds with curiosity, to love nature and people around the world, to study and work hard persistently with perseverance and determination.

4.)   Describe how you use art and creativity in your craft as well as your everyday life.

I compose music for musicians to perform, and for audiences to enjoy. I also teach composition at UMKC Conservatory, and enjoy seeing student achievements and contributions to our culture and the world. 

5.)   How can art make the world a better place?  Can you share a personal example?

Music is like a bridge, which could bring people together from different cultural backgrounds, to improve their understandings between each other, for the peace of the world. 

6.)   Do you wish you would have had more opportunities when you were younger to explore your more "creative brain"? If so, how might that have helped your development as an artist?

To have exposure to multidisciplinary education as early as possible might bring up more creative brain for an artist.

7.)   When did you realize you wanted to pursue being an artistic person not only personally, but professionally? How did that change your drive to do it?

I had no choice when I became a professional violinist when i was still a teenager, being brought back to my home city where I grew up, to serve as concertmaster in the Guangzhou City Beijing Opera Troupe Orchestra, to play Revolutionary Sample Operas during the Cultural Revolution in China, after being re-educated with hard labor work in the countryside for 15 months. I started to learn composition when I played in the orchestra. However, it’s not until the end of the Cultural Revolution, when China reopened its higher education system after 10 years, I became a composition student, being admitted to one of the top conservatories in China, the Central Conservatory in Beijing, to study for my bachelor and master degrees, followed by my Doctor of Musical Arts degree study at Columbia University in the City of New York. I became a professional composer since then.

8.)   Do you feel like your artistic expression has changed in the last few years? If yes, how so? If not, why do you think that is?

The modern society is like a complex network, everything exists in equal rights under different cultures, environments and conditions. They keep changing at every moment and interact with others, so that each experience that we come across can become the source and exciting medium of our creation. As to the music composition, it reflects the precipitation of a composer's cultural and psychological construct. Regarding my compositional style, I believe that language can be translated into music. Since I speak out naturally in my mother tongue, in my music there is Chinese blood, Chinese philosophy and customs. However, music is a universal language, I hope to get the essence of different cultures and write my  musical works that could represent my thought and expressions, which reflect my experiences gained in the new society. Thinking deeply about our human history and modern society with so much disaster globally, I have a portion of works that carried heavy subjects and tragic expression, although I have many early compositions that are largely inspired by folk culture.

9.)   What inspires you?

Life, society, people, nature, sciences, literature, and all art forms.

10.) How do physical locations inspire your artistic expression? Any places that make you feel especially creative?

Everywhere I went has impression and inspiration for my creative work. For example, a part of my Ge Xu (Antiphony) was inspired by the Chinese and African dancing that I saw in San Francisco, a part of my Symphony No. 3 was inspired by American hip hop and the cultural life in New York city, and so on. Many other works were drawn from Chinese folk music materials which I experienced in China. Dr. Chen Yi