Phyllis Chen (born 1978) is an American composer, sound artist, and pianist. A member of the International Contemporary Ensemble, she co-composed their 2016 album ''On The Nature Of Thingness'' and is a 2022

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated d ...

. After suffering from

tendinopathy Tendinopathy is a type of tendon disorder that results in pain, swelling, and impaired function. The pain is typically worse with movement. It most commonly occurs around the shoulder ( rotator cuff tendinitis, biceps tendinitis), elbow ( tenn ...

, she began doing work on the

toy piano The toy piano, also known as the ( in German), is a small piano-like musical instrument. Most modern toy pianos use round metal rods, as opposed to strings in a regular piano, to produce sound. The U.S. Library of Congress recognizes the toy pia ...

, including an album and music festival both named UnCaged Toy Piano.

Biography

Chen, a native of

Blacksburg, Virginia Blacksburg is an incorporated town in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 44,826 at the 2020 census. Blacksburg and the surrounding county is dominated economically and demographically by the presence of Virginia T ...

, was born in 1978, daughter of Dan and Jenny Chen. She started learning piano as a young child. After attending the Eastern Music Festival summer camp, she graduated from Blacksburg High School in 1995, one year earlier than her class. Despite receiving acceptance offers from other prestigious music schools, she ultimately chose

Oberlin Conservatory of Music The Oberlin Conservatory of Music is a private music school, music conservatory of Oberlin College, a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio. It was founded in 1865 and is the ...

, where she then obtained her BM. She then got a MM at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

and DMA at

Jacobs School of Music The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana, is a music conservatory established in 1921. Until 2005, it was known as the Indiana University School of Music. It has more than 1,500 students, approximately half of whom ar ...

; her doctoral dissertation ''Inventions on the Keyboard'' was supervised by

André Watts André Watts (June 20, 1946 – July 12, 2023) was an American classical pianist. Over the six decades of his career, Watts performed as soloist with every major American orchestra and most of the world's finest orchestras, including the New Y ...

. In 2001, she joined the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) as one of their founding members. In 2011, she played the piano for several pieces she composed for ICE at the

Museum of Contemporary Photography A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private collections that are used by researchers ...

in Chicago. In 2016, she and Nathan Davis composed the ICE's album ''On The Nature Of Thingness''. She eventually became Artist Emeritus at ICE. As she once recalled, she "never found he pianoto be entirely fulfilling ndalways thought there was something missing". After both of her arms became sore from

, she started playing the smaller

, which she had discovered during her studies at Indiana. She started the UnCaged Toy Piano festival in 2007 to promote the instrument, and she also composed a toy piano album of the same name. She was the toy pianist for the 2009 musical ''

Coraline ''Coraline'' () is a 2002 British dark fantasy horror children's novella by author Neil Gaiman. Gaiman started writing ''Coraline'' in 1990, and it was published in 2002 by Bloomsbury and HarperCollins. It was awarded the 2003 Hugo Award for ...

'' at the

Lucille Lortel Theatre The Lucille Lortel Theatre is an off-Broadway playhouse at 121 Christopher Street in Manhattan's West Village. It was built in 1926 as a 590-seat movie theater called the New Hudson, later known as Hudson Playhouse. The interior design is large ...

. She also performed the toy piano at the 2012 Ringling International Arts Festival, where Gayle Williams of ''

Sarasota Herald-Tribune The ''Sarasota Herald-Tribune'' is a daily newspaper, located in Sarasota, Florida, United States, founded in 1925 as the ''Sarasota Herald''. History The newspaper was owned by The New York Times Company from 1982 to 2012. It was then owned by ...

'' said that Chen "has enough imagination for all of us". During a review of her April 2013 performance at the

Atlas Performing Arts Center The Atlas Performing Arts Center is a multiple space performing arts facility located on H Street (Washington, D.C.), H Street in the Near Northeast, Washington, D.C., Near Northeast neighborhood of Washington, DC. Housed in a renovated Art Deco m ...

, Stephen Brookes of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' called Chen "a virtuoso of the toy piano". Steve Smith of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' called her a "leading proponent of the toy piano as a vehicle for serious music", while Xenia Pestova Bennett called her one of the pioneers of the Schoenhut 372 and its open-lid counterpart 379. She originally composed with pseudonyms before a friend approached her about talking with a composer who was actually Chen herself. Her

Baryshnikov Arts Center The Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) is a foundation and arts complex opened by Mikhail Baryshnikov in 2005 at 450 West 37th Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The top three fl ...

commission ''Lighting the Dark'' premiered in December 2014; Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim of ''The New York Times'' said that it "offered a slyly subversive take on issues relating to femininity, technology and power". In 2015, she composed ''Curios'' for the

Singapore International Festival of Arts Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) is an annual arts festival held in Singapore. It is organised bArts House Limitedfor the National Arts Council. The festival is usually held in mid-year for a stretch of one month and incorporates th ...

, performed by

Margaret Leng Tan Margaret Leng Tan () is a classical music artist known for her work as a professional toy pianist, performing in major cities around the world on her 51 cm-high toy pianos. She is also known to be a classical music performer using unconventio ...

; Marcus Cheng Chye Tan called it an "important work to evaluate Tan's theatrimusicality". In 2022, she was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in Music Composition. Her piece "Sumitones" was performed at the 2024 Schubert Club International Artist Series in

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota, hosts a variety of performing arts, such as touring Broadway musicals, orchestra, opera, and cultural performers, and produces local musicals. It is home to several l ...

. She has also worked at

State University of New York at New Paltz The State University of New York at New Paltz (SUNY New Paltz or New Paltz) is a public university in New Paltz, New York. It traces its origins to the New Paltz Classical School, a secondary institution founded in 1828 and reorganized as an ...

as assistant professor of music composition. She lives in

Astoria, Queens Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to four other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City, Queens, Long Island C ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Phyllis 1978 births 21st-century American classical composers 21st-century American women composers 21st-century American women pianists American arts administrators American sound artists American women classical pianists Classical musicians from New York (state) Classical musicians from Virginia Composers from New York City International Contemporary Ensemble members Jacobs School of Music alumni Living people Music festival founders Musicians from Queens, New York Northwestern University alumni Oberlin Conservatory of Music alumni People from Astoria, Queens People from Blacksburg, Virginia State University of New York at New Paltz faculty American women arts administrators Women sound artists