Shih-Hui Chen
陳士惠

 

photo by Marco Giugliarelli/Civitella Ranieri

In her 2007 Goddard Lieberson Award citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, it states, "...In a seamless narrative, her beautiful music, always highly inventive and expressive, is immediately as appealing as it is demanding and memorable." Wire Magazine praises her CD Returning Souls as "deep musical intelligence." Her second award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Walter Hinrichsen Award in 2023, indicated, "...Her strong personal voice bridges the East and West with passion, energy, and dramatic expression. Her contribution to intercultural exchange is unmistakable."

Composer Shih-Hui Chen was born in Taiwan and has been living in the U.S. since 1982. Fascinated by the narratives that intersect identity, culture, and tradition, she seeks to bridge boundaries between music and society, between the music of different cultures, and between music and other art forms in her work.

This perspective informs both her creative works and community projects. Her recent cross-genre theatrical work, Fermentasia: Whispers in the Jar, explores the idea of food preservation as a means to unite people from various cultures worldwide. Her chamber opera, or/and, delves into questions of personal and cultural identity, while her shadow puppet viola concerto, sisila ila ila: saying goodbye, addresses the conservation of culture and the environment. Chen’s commitment to fostering global connections also led to her founding of 21C: Classical, Contemporary, and Cross-Cultural Asian Music, a performing arts festival that promotes intercultural exchange between Asia and the U.S. through lectures and performances.

To gain a more profound understanding of the music and cultures of her homeland, Chen spent two years studying indigenous and nanguan music in Taiwan on the Fulbright Senior Scholar Program, affiliated with the Academia Sinica, the Taiwan Institute, and the National Taiwan University. Her works in this area include Withholding the Umbrella for Chinese orchestra, Returning Souls: Four Short Pieces on Three Formosan Amis Legends, and Echoes from Within: A Musical Response to Cy Twombly, a 45-minute site-specific work for sheng, double bass, and electronics in collaboration with composer Kurt Stallmann.

Shih-Hui Chen currently serves on the Performing Arts and Culture Committee at the Asia Society Texas Center and is on the faculty of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. She has collaborated with ensembles such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, the Utah Symphony, and the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra. Her work has received recognition from prestigious institutions, including the American Academy in Rome, the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Harvard/Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the Koussevitzky Foundation, the Barlow Prize, the Fromm Foundation, Chamber Music America, Meet the Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Fulbright Scholar Program. The residencies she attended include the Bellagio Study and Conference Center, Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Copland House, and Bogliasco Foundation.

Chen’s recent projects include A Stillness That Moves, commissioned by Houston Grand Opera for the Rothko Chapel; Birds Are Real: Ambush from Ten Directions, commissioned for the Shepherd School of Music’s 50th-anniversary celebration; BOUNCE!! for 13 players, commissioned by the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition; Our Stories, Our Songs commissioned by Trio Phōs/New World Symphony BLUE (Build, Learn, Understand, Experiment) program; Where Water Falls commissioned by KlangForum Heidelberg (Germany); Sitting on the Clouds commissioned by Houston Arts Alliance for the Formosa Quartet; and Mirror Lake, Wandering Sky by Dallas Voices of Change. Her music can be heard on Albany, New World, and Bridge Records.

2007 年 American Academy of Arts and Letters（美國藝術文學學會）在頒發給陳士惠的Goddard Lieberson 獎引文中提到：「……在流暢的敘事中，她優美且總是充滿創造性與表現力的音樂，既迷人又具挑戰性，令人過耳不忘。」；英國前衛雜誌 Wire Magazine 則讚譽她的 CD 專輯《讓靈魂回家》Returning Souls 展現了「深厚的音樂智慧」。此外，美國藝術暨文學學會於 2023 年授予她Walter Hinrichsen獎時指出：「……她強烈的個人風格，以熱情、活力和戲劇性的表達，連結了東方與西方。她對跨文化交流的貢獻是毋庸置疑的。」

這位二度獲得美國學院文藝作曲獎、第 33 屆傳藝金曲獎最佳編曲提名的台灣作曲家陳士惠，畢業於臺灣藝術大學（前國立藝專），師承馬水龍。她於1982 年赴美深造，並取得波士頓大學作曲博士學位。2000 年起任教於美國萊斯大學音樂院，連續三年擔任美國Fulbright獎評審委員、萊斯大學音樂院作曲系主任三年、Syzygy 現代音樂會執行長十年。她的作品曾獲得：美國國家文藝獎、羅馬音樂大獎、古根漢基金會獎、洛克斐勒基金會獎。

創作之外，她也多次策劃、執行跨界的音樂會，例如：2013 年她與胡台麗合作的台灣阿美族紀錄片《讓靈魂回家》在美國七所大學巡迴演出；2015 年在萊斯大學、亞洲協會舉辦「國際絲竹音樂營」；2016 年南管「古樂今曲」在美國六所大學的巡迴演出等。

2010 至 2013 年期間，在中研院、南管管閣研習兩年的她，創作了：《法鼓山水陸法會》（動畫配樂）、《推枕著衣──南管新唱》（南管琵琶及管弦樂團）、《請恢復我們的姓名》（為排灣詩人莫那能的詩而譜的人聲與室內樂)、古箏協奏曲《廣陵散的迴響》等作品。

除了將台灣元素融入西方音樂外，陳士惠近年來的創作更進一步與戲劇、影像及社會議題做廣泛的連結。 相關作品有：以笙演奏者帶領著觀眾游移於整座美術館八個空間的Echoes from Within: A Musical Response to Cy Twombly；以黃春明詩句為靈感的多媒體大提琴協奏曲《國峻不回來吃飯》；探索身份轉換與親子關係的歌劇《給女兒的話》；以中提琴為主的音樂劇，喚起人們對已經失去或可能正在失去事物的省思《sisila ila ila: 別離之歌》；結合皮影戲團影片與 AI 生成影像，突顯假資訊日益增長威脅的《鳥兒是真的；十面埋伏》；以及講述如何以食物保藏的智慧，跨越文化界線，敘說我們共同點的《醱酵：罈裡的私語》。

陳士惠最近的創作包括：Houston Grand Opera 委託為Rothko Chapel 創作的《悸動的靜止》； 芝加哥當代作曲中心委託的《彈！跳！》；Trio Phōs /新世界交響樂團的 BLUE（Build, Learn, Understand, Experiment）委託的《我們的故事，我們的歌》；德國 KlangForum Heidelberg 委託的《水落何處》； 休斯頓藝術聯盟（Houston Arts Alliance）委託為福爾摩沙四重奏創作的《與雲同坐》； 及達拉斯變化之聲（Dallas Voices of Change）委約的《鏡湖，雲遊》 。

陳士惠個人的錄音作品由 Albany、New World 和 Bridge Records 等 CD 公司出版。