Chen Yi describes her ‘Qi’ as virtual life force flowing through the universe

Over her five-decade career, Chen Yi has established herself as one of the leading artistic voices of her generation. She has had works performed by the world’s best ensembles, such as the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, the BBC, Cleveland and Singapore Symphony Orchestras, and has collaborated with soloists such as Yehudi Menuhin, Yo-Yo Ma and Evelyn Glennie.

Born in China in 1953 and raised during the Cultural Revolution, Chen began her career as a violinist, winning the post of concertmaster of the Peking Opera Orchestra in Guangzhou. She received her bachelor and master’s degrees in composition from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, becoming the first woman to receive the latter degree from the institution. She later obtained her DMA in composition from Columbia University in New York City. Since finishing her studies, she has resided in the United States.

Her understanding of and respect for different musical traditions and impeccable skill at blending them, whether in arrangements for small consorts of traditional Chinese instruments, large symphonic works with Western instruments or in pieces that employ both, has won her acclaim. 

Chen Yi’s Qi for flute, cello, percussion, piano will be performed in a CSO Chamber Music concert, featuring music by women composers, on April 19 at the University of Chicago’s Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E 60th St. The performers are Cynthia Yeh, CSO principal percussion; Kenneth Olsen, CSO assistant principal cello; CSO flute Jennifer Gunn, and pianist Christopher Gluzman. 

In Chinese philosophy and medicine, qi is the vital life force, energy or breath that, in Chinese philosophy and medicine, animates the body, sustains health and flows through everything in the universe. 

Qi was commissioned and premiered by the New Music Consort of New York, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and Los Angeles Philharmonic Association. Chen dedicated it to composer and Columbia University professor Chou Wen-Chung, to express “my deep gratitude to his mentorship in my composition concept and artistic thoughts.” In the composer’s words, she uses a mixed combination of Western instruments to “create the sound from the East to express her feelings of the Qi abstractly. 

"It’s so untouchable, so mysterious, but so strong and powerful. It melts into air and light; it’s like the space in Chinese paintings. It’s filled into the dancing lines of Chinese calligraphy, it’s the spirit in the human mind. In my composition, I translate the feeling of the qi, the element of nature, into my musical language in a quite free and slow tempo. There are also exaggerated textures with tension, in which I try to sound the inner voices and spirit of human beings to experience this eternal power."‘

Qi was recorded by the New Music Consort for the disc “Sparkle: Chamber Music of Chen Yi” (CRI/New World Records), released in 1999. Critic Alan Rich in the L.A. Weekly called Qi "a marvelous hybrid piece. Her music spans vast cultural spaces with a most endearing, easy grace.”

Also on the April 19 program are Caroline Shaw’s Boris Kerner, for cello and flower pots; Annie Gosfield’s Daughters of the Industrial Revolution, a fusion of factory sounds and live instruments, and Louise Farrenc’s romantic Piano Trio No. 4 in E Minor.