Phyllis Chen, toy piano / piano

www.phyllischen.net

New Music/New Places Fellow

Phyllis Chen’s artistic pursuits take her in numerous directions as a toy pianist, pianist, composer and performance artist, leading to her selection as a New Music/New Places Fellow at the 2007 Concert Artists Guild International Competition. Since discovering the toy piano, Ms. Chen has become a trailblazer, performing original multi-media compositions using toy pianos, electronics and video and works by prominent 20th century composers such as John Cage and Julia Wolfe. 

Ms. Chen was recently invited to perform a selection of toy piano and electronic pieces, including her own composition, Suite for Toy Piano, at the Extensible Toy Piano Festival in Worcester, MA.  A strong interest in interdisciplinary works led her to collaborations with video artist Rob Dietz, and that duo recently premiered Ms. Chen’s multimedia piece, The Memoirist for three toy pianos, laptop, sampling keyboard, bowls, music box, frying pan, pillow and stuffed bunny. To further expand the repertoire for toy piano and electronics, she recently announced a new composition competition, The UnCaged Toy Piano, and the winning pieces will be premiered by her in New York in spring 2008.

Lauded for playing a Beethoven concerto “with amazing grace, with enviable clarity, and with finger work of both strength and elasticity” (The Herald Times, IN), Ms. Chen’s traditional piano credits include honors at the International Bartok/Kabalevsky Piano and the Coleman Chamber Music Competitions.Her victory at the Marjorie Barnett Competition of Chicago included a special Bach Prize for her performance of the Goldberg Variations, and as a result, Ms. Chen was invited to perform at the Symphony Center's Buntrock Hall. She has also performed on the Dame Myra Hess Series at the Chicago Cultural Center, aired live on WFMT Public Radio.

Ms. Chen is a member of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), a Chicago and New York-based collective dedicated to the performance and promotion of new works, with which she has performed internationally, including the Festival Internacional de Musica Contemporánea in Morelia, Mexico. She has also collaborated extensively with tenor Peter Tantsits, including performances of song cycles by Benjamin Britten in Russia and England.

Phyllis Chen, a native of Blacksburg, VA, attended Oberlin Conservatory as a recipient of the Dean's Talent Award Scholarship, and she received a Masters Degree from Northwestern University as an Eckstein Merit Scholar.  Ms. Chen hosts her own radio program, The Toad’s Wart, on Indiana University’s radio station WIUX-LP, as she completes her DMA in piano performance under the tutelage of André Watts.