Chelsea Chen

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Chelsea Chen (b. December 30, 1983, in San Diego, California) is a nationally renowned young American organist. In the past few years she has been successful in establishing a concert career in the United States and Taiwan.

1 Life
2 Reviews
3 Discography
4 External Links
5 Footnotes

[edit] Life

Chelsea Chen began piano studies at a young age, studying with Jane Smisor Bastien and Lori Bastien Vickers. At age fifteen, she began studying organ, first with Leslie Robb, and later with Monte Maxwell, Chapel Organist for the United States Naval Academy. After only two years of lessons, she was accepted into the Juilliard School, where she studied first with John Weaver and then with Paul Jacobs, completing her undergraduate degree in 2005 and her graduate degree in 2006. In 2006, she was accepted for a Fulbright Fellowship and spent the next year composing and performing in Taiwan, where she played an important role in increasing exposure to the pipe organ in that country. In 2007, she was accepted into the Artist Diploma program at Yale University, where she currently studies with Thomas Murray. She performs a wide variety of repertoire; in addition to works from the standard repertory, she has premiered her own works and works of fellow Juilliard composers such as Teddy Niedermaier and Ola Gjeilo.

Chelsea has been the recipient of numerous awards. In 2003, she won the Region IX regional convention of the American Guild of Organists. In 2004, she made it to the final round of the Augustana/Reuter National Organ Undergraduate Competition, returning next year to win first place.^[1] While at Juilliard, she was awarded the John Erskine Prize for scholastic and artistic distinction. In 2005, she recorded her first CD and DVD at Heinz Chapel in Pittsburgh. In 2004 and 2006, she was invited to perform at the AGO National Conventions in Los Angeles and Chicago. On top of her academic courseload, Chelsea maintains a busy performance schedule. She has recently performed in Hawaii, Colorado, Massachusetts, South Dakota, and Nebraska, and has upcoming performances in Texas, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan.

[edit] Reviews

"Well here is a young talent in top form. I first heard Chelsea Chen when she played a few years ago during an organ class at the Juilliard School. She was a student of John Weaver and Paul Jacobs at Juilliard. Chelsea played with confidence, style, and imagination at a level that many older performers would surely envy. She went on to win the Augustana Arts/Reuter competition in Denver in 2005, and superbly presented a fully memorized program to an American Guild of Organist's Winter Conclave in LasVegas in January 2006, and appeared again for the AGO in Chicago [at the National Convention] this summer. All of 21 years old, at the time Chelsea was also invited to play at the Heinz chapel of the University of Pittsburgh, during an American Institute of Organbuilders Conference. On that occasion she shared music which she herself had composed--honoring her father and his Chinese ancestry--a Taiwanese Suite based on folk melodies. Both Bach and Reger surely would have approved of the formidable talent of our soloist Chelsea Chen. The [organ's] future is in the hands as players such as Chelsea Chen who not only perform exceptionally well but also compose for the organ and encourage other friends of their generation to write for it too."^[2]

"The recital ended with a thunderous and exciting rendition of Duruflé’s Toccata from Suite, Op. 5. I believe that I spied the figures in the stained glass windows dancing along with Chelsea’s music. Ms. Chen is to be congratulated for an excellent recital. She presented herself in a professional, well-informed and humble manner."^[3]

"A highlight of the week was a concert by Chelsea Chen, who was introduced to the pipe organ at our first Pipe Organ Encounter in 1997 and now is a nationally recognized concert organist." ^[4]

"At [organbuilders] conventions I generally listen intently to the instrument, appreciate the efforts of the organist, and pay relatively little attention to the performances. But I was powerless to ignore the playing of Chelsea Chen. It's easy to qualify, to say 'she's great...for one so young!' Playing like that is captivating, regardless of age. It wasn't just that I enjoyed her selections or agreed with her choice of stops. She does not play the organ. She makes the organ her instrument for making music. Her every move is musical. Every piston she pushes, every manual change, every tiny nudge of the shades is a fluid part of her music. I watched her left hand playing the almost inaudible accompaniment in the Bach 'Badinerie'. Every note perfectly attacked and released. Not fussy, just perfect. If Chelsea Chen is a harbinger of the generation on the horizon, there's going to be a lot of organbuilding to do." ^[5]