Andrew Chen

Andrew Chen is a Melbourne-born, London-based composer, who is particularly interested in evoking in his music the sensations of momentum and inertia – visceral, somatic, immersive feelings, like that of being pulled around a corner at speed, or to-and-fro by the edge of one's seat. Conceptually, his works also often center on 'anthropomorphosis' and percepts of 'the human' – particularly, the material sources, processes, and catalysts by which one embeds or perceives the embedding of agents or entities within a music.

 

He was a Royal Philharmonic Society Composer for 2021-22, and has enjoyed past collaborations with a number of musicians and ensembles including Wu Wei, Explore Ensemble (UK), Ensemble Offspring (AUS), Rob Hao, and the National Children's Orchestras of Great Britain. During his time as RPS Composer, he had a set of commissions premiered by the Gould Piano Trio and Merton College Choir, at Cheltenham Music Festival 2022.

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Most recently he was commissioned by the Australian National Academy of Music to write a new work for solo violoncello as part of the ANAM Set, to be premiered by Noah Lawrence in late 2024.

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Andrew also actively maintains an extensive and varied performance practice as a jazz pianist, musical director, and free improviser;  he was the recipient of the 2021 Dankworth Award for Jazz Composition, and regularly undertakes a wide range of engagements in solo, combo, and other ensemble settings – including performances at the Royal Albert Hall, the Barbican, and Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, and onstage appearances with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (UK), and alongside Tim Garland, Tommy Blaize, Lisa Simone, Cassie Kinoshi, and Hermeto Pascoal e Grupo.

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Beyond his own creative activities, Andrew is a dedicated, passionate advocate for all forms of new music, and the musicians behind it. He is a Producer and Curator at ScoreFollower, the world’s most widely distributed free-to-access online platform for the dissemination of works by living composers, both as 'score videos' and through other related media, with a particular focus on widening access, and availability as an educational resource. Previously a member of . He was also previously an inaugural ABRSM Composer Mentee (2021-22).

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Andrew studied at the Royal College of Music, London, with Alison Kay, Simon Holt, and Jonathan Cole, and in the time since has often returned to the RCM's Junior Department as a Deputy Teacher of Composition, Jazz Piano, and Musicianship. He was a Lecturer in Compositional Technique at the Alternative Conservatoire. He is an Associate Artist with the Australian Music Centre, and sits on The Ivors Academy's Classical Council.