Jenny Q. Chai

Jenny Q Chai (born 23 June 1983) is an American-Chinese pianist. She is active throughout China, the United States, and Europe, and specializes in contemporary piano music. She is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and the Manhattan School of Music where she earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree.^[2]

Chai is on the Board of directors for the New York City-based organization Ear to Mind.^[3] She is also the founder of the Shanghai-based FaceArt Institute of Music,^[4] which helps to bring contemporary music to the people of China.^[5]

Career

In August 2010, she released her debut recording New York Love Songs, which features interpretations of works by John Cage and Charles Ives, among others.

In April 2012 she made her Carnegie Hall debut, prompting The New York Times’s Anthony Tommasini review in which he noted her 'resourceful technique and sensitivity.'^[6] She has also performed at (Le) Poisson Rouge, which according to Vivien Schweitzer, was ‘an eclectic program that used unconventional tools’ .^[7]

In September 2013, she performed a lecture and recital at the Shanghai Symphony Hall.^[8] Exactly on year later, Chai performed to a full audience at Spectrum NYC, debuting selections from her most recent recording, Life Sketches: Piano Music of Nils Vigeland.^[9] The performance also included the American debut of Marco Stroppa’s "Birichino", and an experimental rendition of Jarosław Kapuściński’s piece "Juicy" using Antescofo, featuring animations of fruits.^[10]

In October 2014, Chai was a featured performer at the Leo Brouwer Festival in Havana, Cuba, alongside Yo-Yo Ma, Jordi Savall and Bobby McFerrin.^[11]

In January 2015, Chai's doctoral dissertation on Marco Stroppa's Miniature Estrose (978-3-659-64847-2) has been published.

Education

Chai began her music education at the Shanghai Music Conservatory.^[5] Chai recently received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Manhattan School of Music, where she wrote her thesis (advisor, Marilyn Nonken) on composer Marco Stroppa. Chai has also studied at the Curtis Institute of Music with Seymour Lipkin, and has received two degrees from the Manhattan School of Music where she studied with Solomon Mikowsky, Anthony de Mare, and future collaborator and mentor, Nils Vigeland. One of the pieces she selected for her final recital at Curtis, Henry Cowell’s "The Banshee", required her to play the piano solely on its strings, prompting at least one member of the audience to think she was the piano tuner.^[5]

In Germany, she studied with Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and performed in Ensemble 20/21, directed by David Smeyers, as well as the group Musikfabrik.

References