Mei Jun Chen Chen, Mei Jun
A native of Taichung, Taiwan, Mei Jun Chen graduated from the Department of Music at Tunghai University, majoring in piano with Dr. Juanelva Rose. Chen began studying composition with 金希文 in March 1989, and from 1991 to 1997 pursued master’s and doctoral degrees in composition at the Eastman School of Music in the United States, studying with Samuel Adler, Christopher Rouse, David Liptak, Joseph Schwantner and Augusta Read Thomas. Chen’s awards include First Prize in the Eastman composition competition (the Gitelman Prize) and an Honorable Mention from the International League of Women Composers. Since 1992 Chen has received commissions from various performers and ensembles, including the American guitarist Christopher Tavis, Eastman piano professor Natalya Antonova, the Phoenix Youth Symphony Orchestra, and the violinist 郭昶, originally from mainland China and based in the US.
In 1995 Chen’s orchestral work “Ostinato” (執) was selected for the 16th New Music & Art Festival in Bowling Green, Ohio, where new works were presented on the same program as the composer Gunther Schuller; in June 1996 Chen was selected for the Young Talents series at the National Concert Hall in Taipei, presenting new works in Taiwan for the first time. Chen teaches at the Department of Music at Tunghai University as a full-time assistant professor of composition, music history, orchestration, harmony and musical form.
In July 1998 Chen was invited to lecture on “Life and Death with Gustav Mahler” at the Tunghai University International Music Festival; in August 2001 Chen spoke at Eslite Bookstore’s lecture series “Fragmentation and Transcendence” on the creative and inner journeys of 20th-century composers. From September 2002 Chen joined classical radio station Family 97.7 as a presenter of the lecture and radio programs “Soaring Through the Clouds” and “Concerts Explained”. In February 2003 Chen took part in the Music Lovers’ Lecture series, speaking on “Masters of Impressionism: Monsieur D and Monsieur R”. In July 2004 Chen hosted the radio program “In Search of a Music Map”, presenting the Politically Incorrect series on the music of Shostakovich.