Chen has been successful in establishing a concert career in North America, Europe and Asia. She has composed several original compositions, and has adapted music ranging from major classical repertoire to video game soundtracks to Taiwanese folk songs for the organ and other instruments.
Education and career
Chen began piano studies at a young age, studying with Jane Smisor Bastien and Lori Bastien Vickers. At age 15, she began studying organ, first with Leslie Robb, and later with Monte Maxwell, Chapel Organist for the United States Naval Academy. After only two years of lessons, she was accepted into the Juilliard School, where she studied first with John Weaver and then with Paul Jacobs, completing her undergraduate degree in 2005 and her graduate degree in 2006. In 2006, she was accepted for a Fulbright Fellowship and spent the next year composing and performing in Taiwan, where she played an important role in increasing exposure to the pipe organ in that country. In 2007, she was accepted into the Artist Diploma program at Yale University, where she studied with Thomas Murray. She performs a wide-ranging repertoire, and in addition to works from the standard repertory, she has premiered both her own compositions and works of fellow Juilliard composers, such as Teddy Niedermaier and Ola Gjeilo.
Chen has been the recipient of numerous awards. In 2003, she won the Region IX regional convention of the American Guild of Organists. In 2004, she made it to the final round of the Augustana/Reuter National Organ Undergraduate Competition, returning next year to win first place.[1] While at Juilliard, she was awarded the John Erskine Prize for scholastic and artistic distinction.
In 2005, she recorded her first CD and DVD at Heinz Chapel in Pittsburgh. In 2004 and 2006, she was invited to perform at the AGO National Conventions in Los Angeles and Chicago. In addition to her academic studies, she maintains a busy performing career both in the United States and abroad. She has recently performed in San Diego, Dallas, New York, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, among other places. Notable upcoming performances include her debut at the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles,[2] and a performance of Messiaen's "La Nativite du Seigneur" at Christ Church in New Haven, Connecticut, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of his birth.
Recently, Chen was appointed to the position of Organist- and Artist-in-Residence at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In addition to her role as organist, Chen will also oversee a new annual concert series at the church.[3]
"Chelsea played with confidence, style, and imagination at a level that many older performers would surely envy. She went on to win the Augustana Arts/Reuter competition in Denver in 2005, and superbly presented a fully memorized program to an American Guild of Organist's Winter Conclave in Las Vegas in January 2006, and appeared again for the AGO in Chicago [at the National Convention] this summer. All of 21 years old, at the time Chelsea was also invited to play at the Heinz chapel of the University of Pittsburgh, during an American Institute of Organbuilders Conference. On that occasion she shared music which she herself had composed--honoring her father and his Chinese ancestry--a Taiwanese Suite based on folk melodies. Both Bach and Reger surely would have approved of the formidable talent of our soloist Chelsea Chen. The [organ's] future is in the hands as players such as Chelsea Chen who not only perform exceptionally well but also compose for the organ and encourage other friends of their generation to write for it too."[4]
"I believe that I spied the figures in the stained glass windows dancing along with Chelsea's music. Ms. Chen is to be congratulated for an excellent recital. She presented herself in a professional, well-informed and humble manner."[5]
"At [organbuilders] conventions I generally listen intently to the instrument, appreciate the efforts of the organist, and pay relatively little attention to the performances. But I was powerless to ignore the playing of Chelsea Chen. It's easy to qualify, to say 'she's great...for one so young!' Playing like that is captivating, regardless of age. It wasn't just that I enjoyed her selections or agreed with her choice of stops. She does not play the organ. She makes the organ her instrument for making music. Her every move is musical. Every piston she pushes, every manual change, every tiny nudge of the shades is a fluid part of her music. I watched her left hand playing the almost inaudible accompaniment in the Bach 'Badinerie'. Every note perfectly attacked and released. Not fussy, just perfect. If Chelsea Chen is a harbinger of the generation on the horizon, there's going to be a lot of organbuilding to do."[6]
The American Guild of Organists (AGO) is an international organization of academic, church, and concert organists in the US, headquartered in New York City with its administrative offices in the Interchurch Center. Founded as a professional educational association, it was chartered by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York in 1896, with the authority to grant certificates of associate or fellow to members who passed examinations.
An organ recital is a concert at which music specially written for the organ is played.
Marie-Claire Geneviève Alain-Gommier was a French organist, scholar and teacher best known for her prolific recording career, with 260 recordings, making her the most-recorded classical organist in the world. She taught many of the world's prominent organists. She was a specialist in Bach, making three recordings of his complete organ works, as well as French organ music.
Joan Lippincott is an American concert organist and former head of the organ department at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey.
Gerre Edward Hancock was an American organist, improviser, and composer. Hancock was Professor of Organ and Sacred Music at the University of Texas at Austin. He died of cardiac arrest in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, January 21, 2012.
Frederick Lewis Swann was an American church and concert organist, choral conductor, composer, and president of the American Guild of Organists. His extensive discography includes both solo organ works and choral ensembles he has conducted.
Thomas Mantle Murray is an American organist, known as an interpreter of Romantic organ music. He was a professor of Music and university organist at the Yale School of Music from 1981 until his retirement in 2019. He is also Principal Organist and Artist in Residence at Christ Church in New Haven, Connecticut.
John C. Walker, more familiarly known as John Walker, is an American concert organist, choirmaster, and CD recording artist. He is also a former president of the American Guild of Organists, elected in May 2014 to a two-year term of the 16,000-member organization. Walker has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Asia, and Europe. He is "widely recognized for his flawless technique and execution as well as his controlled and passionate playing," said Duke University in announcing a John Walker recital at Duke Chapel. Since 2006 he has served on the faculty of the Peabody Institute and George Mason University.
The Organ Historical Society is a not-for-profit organization primarily composed of pipe organ enthusiasts interested in the instrument's design, construction, conservation and use in musical performance. Formed in 1956, the headquarters moved from Richmond, Virginia, to Villanova, Pennsylvania, in 2017.
Roberta Bitgood (Wiersma) (15 January 1908 – 15 April 2007) was an American organist, choir director, and composer. She was a pioneer of 20th-century American church music, and the first woman to serve as national president of the American Guild of Organists.
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational hymn-singing and play liturgical music.
Martin Ellis is an American church, concert and theatre organist. He is currently the organist for Rose City Park Presbyterian Church in Portland, Oregon. He was Principal Organist and Assistant Music Director at North United Methodist Church, and Senior Staff Pianist/Organist, Staff Arranger and Orchestrator for the Indianapolis Children's Choir and Youth Chorale in Indianapolis, Indiana until August, 2014. He works with Gresham High School's Theatre Arts Department as their resident piano accompanist.
Diane Meredith Belcher is an American concert organist, teacher, and church musician. She has given a large number of solo recitals throughout the United States and abroad, is a teacher, and has served as Director of Music at Bach Vespers/Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in New York City, Lecturer in Music Theory and Organ at Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire, Music Director at Saint Thomas Episcopal Church, Hanover, Co-Organist/Choirmaster at Saint Mark's Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, and head of the Organ Division at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey.
Jeanne Marie-Madeleine Duruflé was a French organist. Regarded as the last of the French school of organists, she played works by Widor, Vierne, Langlais, Dupré and her husband, Maurice Duruflé. She and her husband were both organists at Saint-Étienne-du-Mont in Paris, and toured internationally, especially in the U.S..
Harold Friedell was an American organist. He was well known as a performer and educator, teaching at Juilliard and Union Seminary, a composer of a large number of choral anthems and solo organ pieces, and as a prominent leader in the American Guild of Organists.
Francesca Massey is the former Organist and Director of Music at Rochester Cathedral, a position she held from September 2019 to August 2022, when she was succeeded by Adrian Bawtree. Previously she was Sub-Organist at Durham Cathedral from 2011. In addition to being a professional Church/Concert Organist, Massey is actively engaged as a Choral Conductor, Pianist, Organ and Music Teacher both privately and on behalf of Durham University, Oundle for Organists and the RSCM.
Pécs Organ Manufactory Ltd. (POM) was found in September, 1992. At the moment POM is the biggest organ building company in Hungary. The manufactory employs around 50 specialist who cover all fields of organbuilding. The webshop of the company was launched in 2009 which through they sell hundreds of organ parts.
Isabelle Demers is a Quebec concert organist.
Damin Spritzer is an American organist and academic.
Catharine Pearl Crozier was a leading American concert organist and teacher.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
