BIOGRAPHY
Feiyu (Frank) Chen is a contemporary classical composer, conductor, and guitarist from China Shanghai. As a composer he is interested in sound exploration and mixing cultures and genres. He has written music for several ensembles and artists, including Splice Ensemble, Boston Latin School Wind Ensemble, Mivos Quartet, and HyperCube Ensemble. Frank also collaborats with Choreographer Solana McGonagle, uses different elements in his music. He currently lives in Boston.
Frank also as a guitarist performed in different bands and for different singers. He mainly plays Rock, Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal, Neoclassical Metal and Power Metal. He also performed in Blues, Pop, Funk, and Jazz.
Frank studies composition and guitar performance at Berklee College of Music in the United States. He studied guitar with Joe Stump, Don Lappin, Jon Finn, David Fiuczynski, studied composition with Francine Trester, Tamar Diesendruck, Derek Hurst, Gabriele Vanoni, Dennis Leclaire, Marti Epstein, and Andrew List, and studied conducting with Jeffrey Means, Eric Stern, George Monseur, Avlana Eisenberg, Orlando Cela, Allegra Martin. Frank also takes composition masterclasses with Du Yun, Chaya Czernowin, Derek Bermel, and conducting masterclass with Mark Shapiro.
Frank started to learn piano when he was 4 years old, started to learn guitar 14 years old, started to compose 18 years old, and started to conducting 19 years old. He fell in love with guitar, composition, and conducting after he started it. That become the things he wants to do during his whole life.
Artist Statement
As a contemporary classical composer, my final goal is to become a great composer and leave my name in history if possible. So I’m always trying to build up my system and create new ideas for how to write music and discover new sounds. To create a new genre of contemporary classical music, like Oliver Messiaen, Pierre Boulez, Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, and Luciano Berio. When I compose, I’m trying to take care of all the details in my piece, trying to know exactly what I want before I start the piece. That also makes me interested in conducting. First of all, I enjoy performing my piece, and I can convey what I want to the players when I perform and rehearse the piece as a conductor.
Besides contemporary classical music, the other music I’m really into is Rock and Metal. Since I’m a guitarist these two genres made me fall in love with the guitar and want to study music, making music for the rest of my life. Composing new pieces for different people and groups, conducting my piece or piece by other composers, and playing guitar to perform rock and heavy metal music on the stage are the three things I mostly want to do during my whole career.