Xiaoyong Chen (, born 13 May 1955) is a Chinese composer living in Germany.

Biography

Xiaoyong Chen first studied

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

at the

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

Central Conservatory of Music The Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM; ) is the national music academy of China, located in Beijing. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education. The academy is part of Project 211 and the Double First-Class Construction. Overview Fo ...

from 1980 until 1985. In 1985 he moved to Germany where he attended the Music Academy of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

to complete his studies with

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde music, avant-garde composers in the latter half of the ...

. Chen works frequently as a guest professor in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, China, and other places. Since 1987 he has been a professor at the

Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg The Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg is one of the larger College or university school of music, universities of music in Germany. It was founded in 1950 as ''Staatliche Hochschule für Musik'' (Public college of music) on the base of t ...

at the Asia-Africa Institute and he is self-employed.

Style

Chen's style of composition is close to the Asian mentality, where the creation and development of the sound is in the centre of attention. His works consist of a seemingly simple sound event which will develop in unexpected ways. Chen regards the process of composing as communication with the sound; he tries to find and show the possibilities the sound provides. It is for this reason that Chen's works create an open atmosphere which leads, while listening, to the impression that neither composer nor listener can know where the music is leading.

Key works

* Warp : 1994, for chamber orchestra * Evapora : 1996, for ensemble * Invisible Landscapes : 1998, for zheng, percussion, piano and ensemble * Interlaced Landscapes : 1999, for orchestra * Speechlessness, Clearness and Ease : 2004, for mixed ensemble * Floating Colours : 2006, for orchestra * Colours of Dreams : 2008, for orchestra

References

Chen, Xiaoyong , Internationale Musikverlage Hans Sikorski

External links

* Information on composer and worklist

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Xiaoyong Living people Chinese male composers 1955 births Academic staff of the University of Hamburg Chinese expatriates in Germany Chinese composers