Highlights of Peiwen Chen’s recent engagements include concerts in Washington, D.C., as well as in Virginia and Maine, piano duo concerts in France, and Bach concerti in Lithuania. Additionally, she has served as coach and conductor for operas including Der Schauspieldirektor by Mozart, The Telephone by Menotti, Incoronazione di Poppea by Monteverdi, and Alcina and Ariodante by Handel in concert version with New York Lyric Opera. She has also performed Czerny piano concertos for one piano in France, and for four hands in Moldova, and complete Rachmaninoff music for two pianos. In the spring of 2017, Ms. Chen was the official pianist of the Classical Singers Magazine Competition in Shanghai. In 2020, Ms Chen served as a jury member for many international online voice competitions in Russia, China and the United States.
Since 2021, Ms. Chen has joined New Camerata Opera in New York City for their productions both in operas and concerts. In spring, 2022, Ms Chen played a series of concerts in the project of complete Brahms chamber music for piano duets, including Brahms Liebeslieder waltzes and Neue Liebeslieder walzes with the soloists from the Lithuanian State Opera in Vilnius. In April 2022, Ms Chen, with husband Alexander Paley, premiered “Hommage a Rachmaninoff für 2 Klaviere,“ by renowned German composer Thomas Böttger in France. In August 2022, Ms Chen joined the Savannah Voice Festival in the production of Menotti’s Medium.
Ms Chen has recorded complete Saint-Saens symphonies in the version for piano duo in season 2022-23. In addition during the season, she served as a rehearsal pianist for productions like Ravel’s L’Heure Espangnole, Lili Boulanger’s Faust et Helene, Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
Ms Chen is a member of faculty at Mannes College of Music and Cali School at Montclair University.
Biography
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Ms. Chen graduated from the National Academy of Art with highest honors in 1990, where she performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. In 1992, she entered Mannes College of Music, where in 1994 she performed Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on the theme of Paganini under the baton of Maestro Michael Charry. Shortly after her graduation from Mannes with a special piano award, Ms. Chen made her Carnegie Hall debut at Weill Recital Hall as a winner of the 1995 New York Concert Artists Competition. Frequently performing as a piano duo with her husband Alexander Paley, Ms. Chen performs annually as part of the Alexander Paley Music Festival in Richmond, Virginia, as well as Moulin d’Ande, France.
In December 2001, Ms. Chen made her Paris debut playing Liszt’s Concerto Pathetique for two pianos in Salle O. Messiaen, Maison de Radio France. Following in 2003, she performed Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherazade in the composer’s own one piano, four hands version, which was broadcast live worldwide from Seattle, USA on kings.org. In March 2004, Ms. Chen performed both Mozart and Mendelssohn Piano Concertos for two pianos with the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra in Vilnius, Lithuania. In the summer of 2009, Ms. Chen returned to Taiwan and gave a gala concert in the National Concert Hall in Taipei to benefit young musicians there. In 2011, she performed Mozart Concertos for two and three pianos in Klaipeda, Lithuania.
As a collaborative artist, Ms. Chen has worked with artists including Licia Abanese, Elly Ameling, Regina Resnik, Jon Vickers, Evelyn Lear, Diane Soviero, Deborah Voigt, Ruth Falcon, Mignon Dunn, Sherril Milnes, and Olga Peretyako, among others. In 1998, she joined the production of Fedora for Washington Opera. In addition, Ms. Chen served as a pianist for the Metropolitan Opera Guild as well as Amato Opera, New York Lyric Opera Theatre, and Regina Opera in NYC for many seasons. She has been a member of the music faculty for IVAI in both Virginia and NYC, CVAI in Canada, as well as a faculty member for VOICExperience in Florida, CoOperative at Rider University and Savannah Voice Festival.
Highlights of Ms. Chen’s past engagements include concerts in Washington, D.C. as well as in Virginia and Maine, piano duo concerts in France, and Bach Concerti in Lithuania. Additionally, she has served as coach and conductor for operas including Der Schauspieldirektor by Mozart, The Telephone by Menotti, Incoronazione di Poppea by Monteverdi, and Alcina and Ariodante by Handel in concert version with New York Lyric Opera; Czerny Piano Concerto for one piano, four hands in Moldova and complete Rachmaninoff music for two pianos in France. In the spring of 2017, Ms. Chen was the official pianist of the Classical Singers Magazine Competition in Shanghai. In 2020, Ms Chen served as a jury member for many international online voice competitions in Russia, China and the United States.
Since 2021, Ms. Chen has joined New Camerata Opera in New York City for their productions both in operas and concerts. In spring, 2022, Ms Chen played a series of concerts in the project of complete Brahms chamber music for piano duets, including Brahms Liebeslieder waltzes and Neue Liebeslieder walzes with the soloists from the Lithuanian State Opera in Vilnius. In April 2022, Ms Chen, with husband Alexander Paley, premiered “Hommage a Rachmaninoff für 2 Klaviere,“ by renowned German composer Thomas Böttger in France. In August 2022, Ms Chen joined the Savannah Voice Festival in the production of Menotti’s Medium.
Ms Chen has recorded complete Saint-Saens symphonies in the version for piano duo in season 2022-23. In addition during the season, she served as a rehearsal pianist for productions like Ravel’s L’Heure Espangnole, Lili Boulanger’s Faust et Helene, Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
Ms Chen is a member of faculty at Mannes College of Music and Cali School at Montclair University.