PRESS

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SHALLOW BREATH AND STEALTH - based on Jena Osman's MOTION STUDIES. THE CROSSING. DONALD NALLY​

“Chen’s work distils texts from the Jena Osman poem that gives the disc its title. The impacts of data and machines on human life are reflected in impish, earnest and ominous choral activity. Chen uses silences with subtle power, often stopping the motion in its tracks, and her spare musical imagery portrays everything from earthly ecstasy to anxieties perpetrated by forces seemingly beyond containment.

The code-like motifs ‘dit dit dit’ and ‘dah dit dah’ are woven into the 13 sections amid evocative techniques, including breathy passages, growls, whispers, rubbings, recited texts and sudden exclamations. As always, the singers of The Crossing, led by Donald Nally, are precise and nimble, able to sustain long lines, clarify layers of dense counterpoint and pinpoint the expressive intent of every detail, however minute or cataclysmic.”

- GRAMOPHONE.CO.UK 6.2024

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THE LIFE AND DEATH(S) OF ALAN TURING

VOTED BEST WORLD PREMIERE BY THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE 12/12/23        PRESS CLIPPINGS

What to do in Chicago

Crain's Business   The Economist   Chicago Tribune

"Chen delivered a fascinating score, particularly in the choral writing, which is arguably the work's glory... through a variety of vocal effects deftly creates the aural evocation of a digital world." Opera News, 6/2023

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"... runaway success....Chen’s potent score flings the drama aloft with an appealingly broad expressive palette. She places a special emphasis on extended techniques: string players bow on the side of their instruments and wind players breathe tonelessly through their instruments; choristers drum their fingers on their music folders to mimic the muted sound of rain. Chen’s vocal writing likewise brims with inventive word-painting: The words “chat,” “chit,” and variations thereof recur in choral interludes throughout the opera, their crackling consonance echoing the clicking sounds of Turing’s code-breaking machines." Musical America 3/2023

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"...revelatory... terrific... inventive" Chicago Reader ​

"When was the last time a performance of any kind gave you cold chills? ... the visceral and literal sort of chills that lets you know something inside you has been moved? That was how I felt at last night’s performance of InsightALT: The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing " TheTuxedoRevolt

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"...Vibrant... remarkable... gorgeous...masterful." BWW Opera

 

"...elliptical and poignant... A chess game scene between Turing and his fiancee portrayed the tragically painful and farcically awkward breaking-up of a relationship with uncomfortable accuracy..." en.paperblog.com

 

"Chen has a real knack for encapsulating sense of place through sound....Chen embodies the echoes heard as one speaking resounds in the lofted hallways and rafters of the church sanctuary... a sense of place...depth, nuance and dimension – a 3-D sound effect if you will... a tremendously fun effect." operapulse

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In Review: SWELL  HERE, NY National Sawdust Log 7.14.19

 

JEANNE

"... lyrical, atmospheric...striking. Throughout, Ms. Chen balances despair and humor." The New York Times

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"...inventive, powerful, and distinctly personal, with vocal writing distinguished by its sure-handed maturity and lyrical sweep...Its ethereal beauty and demanding virtuosity built to a climax of supplicating ululations, and was deeply affecting." urbanmodernblogspot.com

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"... gripping... dark, complex... striking... wrenching." feastofmusic.com

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