Chen Xiaoyong, born in Beijing, a composer living in Germany and professor of composition at Hochschule fur Musik und Theater Hamburg (https://www.hfmt-hamburg.de/start/). In 2005, he was elected member of the Freie Akademie der Kunste Hamburg. In 2006, he was appointed as Distinguished professor of Composition at Shanghai Conservatory of Music (until 2021). In November 2007, he was employed as artistic and academic Advisor at the Center for Modern Music of the University of Donau, Austria, and in 2009, he became composer-in-residence at the university. Since 2010, he has been appointed as a visiting professor of Central Conservatory of Music, a special professor of Beijing Municipal Education Commission to teach in Music Department of Capital Normal University. All of his works is exclusively published by German Boosey & Hawkes/Sikorski (link: https://www.sikorski.de/2/en/news.html)
Chen Xiaoyong was admitted to the Composition Department of the Central Conservatory of Music in 1980, and studied under Professor Zhao Xingdao and Su Xia successively. In 1985, he graduated from the State University of Music and Drama in Hamburg, Germany, where he studied with the famous composer Gyorgy Ligeti (Master class). In 1987, while studying in Hamburg, he made his debut as a composer at the Donaueschinger Musiktage (String Quartet No. 1), and the following year received the first commissioned of large orchestral work "Folding...." by the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Baden in southwest Germany. It marked the beginning of his musical career. Since then, his works have spread to Western and Eastern European countries, as well as Japan, Korea, China and other places. Since 1988, he has held more than ten concerts of his works in Hamburg, Bremen, Darmstadt, Berlin, Bonn, Vienna, Krems, Canada, Beijing and other places.
Invisible Landscapes - works by Xiaoyong Chen was awarded the German Monthly Best Album (Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik 1999) by the German Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra. The 2018 album "Imaginative Reflections" by Chen Xiaoyong, published by col legno Records, won the German Record Critics Award/Best Album of Modern Music.
He has written and commissioned works for important international orchestras, music festivals, foundations, etc., and cooperated with world-class performing groups, such as: Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWF), Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra, France Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Portugal Gubenjiang Symphony Orchestra, Korea Broadcasting Corporation Symphony Orchestra (KBS Orchestra), Bremen Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Hamburg NDR North German Radio Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, London Sinfonietta, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Auryn Quartet, Arditti String Quartet, Vienna Klangforum, Vienna 20th Century Orchestra, France Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble 2e2m, AsianArt Ensemble, Kairos Quartet, E-MEX Chamber Orchestra, etc. The festival includes: Holland Festival, Vienna Gulaben Festival, Berlin Festival, Dresden Modern Festival, Munster Modern Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, UK, Munich Biennale/Siemens Music Foundation, Toronto Sound Steams Festival, the Netherlands Cello Biennale in Jutefen, etc. His works are frequently performed at major international music festivals in Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan, Korea, China, Australia, Russia, and Cities of South America, North Africa.
Chen Xiaoyong's music is characterized by simplicity and high personalization. His music reflects a pluralistic world in which different tone systems, modes and timbre merge and sound collide with each other, and different cultural elements interact to produce tension and integration. He pays attention to the difference in the quality of various sounds and their unique expressiveness. He believes that music should enable people to intuitively and rationally recognize the causality of material in the process of music and the necessity of every detail.
