Tania Chen is a mixed media artist and interdisciplinary pianist who composes experimental, improvised and contemporary music. She plays for a global audience, but is mostly based in New York, San Francisco, and London. She is known for performing the works of composers such as

Cornelius Cardew Cornelius Cardew (7 May 193613 December 1981) was an English experimental music composer, and founder (with Howard Skempton and Michael Parsons) of the Scratch Orchestra, an experimental performing ensemble. He later rejected experimental music, ...

Recording
, Michael Parsons,

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...

Earle Brown Earle Brown (December 26, 1926 – July 2, 2002) was an American composer who established his own formal and notational systems. Brown was the creator of "open form," a style of musical construction that has influenced many composers since� ...

recording
,

Morton Feldman Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987) was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School ...

and Chris Newman. Composers of the younger generation she has worked with include

John Lely John Lely (born Norwich, England, in 1976) is British experimental composer, improvising musician and curator based in London, UK. His music has been commissioned and performed by musicians including Apartment House, Quatour Bozzini, violinist ...

Li-Chuan Chong
and James Saunders. She has also collaborated with musicians including improviser and composer

Steve Beresford Steve Beresford (born 6 March 1950) is a British musician who graduated from the University of York He has played a variety of instruments, including piano, electronics, trumpet, euphonium, bass guitar and a wide variety of toy instruments, such ...

(with whom she recorde
'Ointment'
, composer

Andrew Poppy Andrew Poppy (born 29 May 1954, Kent) is an English composer, pianist, and record producer Discography *''Cadenza'' and ''Matters of Theory'' from the self-titled LP by The Lost Jockey (1982, Les Disques du Crepuscule) *''Crude Din'' from "Prof ...

concert
, pianist

John Tilbury John Tilbury (born 1 February 1936) is a British pianist. He is considered one of the foremost interpreters of Morton Feldman's music, and since 1980 has been a member of the free improvisation group AMM. Early life and education Tilbury st ...

, bassist

John Edwards Johnny Reid Edwards (born June 10, 1953) is an American lawyer and former politician who served as a U.S. senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2004 alongside John Kerry, losing to incumbents George ...

, drummer Mark Sanders and harpist Rhodri Davies. She has also collaborated with the film-maker Jayne Parker. She has performed in the US, UK, Asia and Europe, at venues including Tate Modern
GaleGates
(Brooklyn, NYC), The Hamburger Bahnhof Museum (Berlin), the

Purcell Room The Purcell Room is a concert and performance venue which forms part of the Southbank Centre, one of central London's leading cultural complexes. It is named after the 17th century England, English composer Henry Purcell and has 370 seats. The Pu ...

, where she gave
complete performance
of John Cage's ''

Music of Changes ''Music of Changes'' is a piece for solo piano by John Cage. Composed in 1951 for pianist and friend David Tudor, it is a ground-breaking piece of indeterminate music. The process of composition involved applying decisions made using the ''I Ching ...

'' Books I-IV, and the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum. Recent concerts include

for

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

Concert program and listing
and

of

Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an und ...

Vexations ''Vexations'' is a musical work by Erik Satie. Apparently conceived for keyboard (although the single page of manuscript does not specify an instrument), it consists of a short theme in the bass whose four presentations are heard alternatingly ...

for the "Sleep" Installation at the

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...

27 & 28 May 2007, alongside

Michael Nyman Michael Laurence Nyman, Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, libretto, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film soundtrack, scores (many written during his length ...

Gavin Bryars Richard Gavin Bryars (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer and double bassist. He has worked in jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, historicism, avant-garde, and experimental music. Early life and career Born on 16 January 1943 in ...

and

Joshua Rifkin Joshua Rifkin (born April 22, 1944 in New York) is an American conductor, pianist, and musicologist; he is currently a professor of music at Boston University. As a performer he has recorded music by composers from Antoine Busnois to Silvestre ...

. Originally trained as a classical pianist, she studied (amongst others) with

Stephen Coombs Stephen Coombs (born Birkenhead, July 11, 1960) is a British pianist who works with orchestras and conductors, as well as performing as a solo artist. (1) Earlier life Coombs first became prominent in music at the age of thirteen, when he won sec ...

, Professor at the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

, as well as taking masterclasses with

Artur Pizarro Artur Pizarro (born Lisbon, 1968) is an internationally-acclaimed Portuguese concert pianist.Kennedy, Michael and Joyce Bourne. "Pizarro, Artur" ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music''. Oxford University Press: 1996. Designated with the presti ...

. Her piano career took a turn towards contemporary music in the late 1990s, when she studied with noted pianist

, and became noted for her performances of composers such as

and

, amongst others. She was subsequently awarded an M(Mus) at

Goldsmiths College, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

, with distinction. During this time she also took part in a masterclass with

Mstislav Rostropovich Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, (27 March 192727 April 2007) was a Russian cellist and conductor. He is considered by many to be the greatest cellist of the 20th century. In addition to his interpretations and technique, he was wel ...

br>link
.

Partial discography

Cornelius Cardew - chamber music 1955-1964Earl Brown Chamber Music

External links

Personal website

Review of John Cage performance at Purcell Room, 2002

Review of performance at Planet Tree festival at Conway Hall, 2001

Myspace
English contemporary pianists English women pianists Living people Free improvisation 21st-century pianists 21st-century English women musicians Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century women pianists {{UK-pianist-stub