Ying-Chen Kao 高盈真, Composer
Ying-Chen Kao 高盈真(b.1981) has received various commissions and performances by renowned musicians, ensembles and organizations such as the Peabody Children’s Chorus, Peabody Preparatory Dance Department, cellists Michael Kannen, pianist Jenny Lin, organist Donald Sutherland, jazz saxophonist Gary Thomas,REDSHIFT ensemble, guitarist Benjamin Beirs, guitarist Tracy Anne Smith, duo Pictures on Silence,AM/PM Saxophone Quartet and the Summer Trombone Workshop 2008 in Taiwan. Ms. Kao collaborated with the Peabody Preparatory Dance Department to celebrate the 150 year celebration of the Peabody Institute on a ballet and video pieceCollidescope. The ballet was overseen by renowned American theatre artist and choreographer Martha Clarke. In December 2008, Ms. Kao’s solo guitar piece was released on Tracy Anne Smith’s solo album, “Lilac.Star.Bird.” Ms. Kao is also an active graphic artist and in August 2006 her graphic work Constellation of Voice appeared on the cover of Carnegie Hall’s October playbill.
Ms. Kao has been awarded several grants and scholarships such as the Randolph S. Rothschild Award, the Austin Weeks Scholarship, Maxwell R. Lepper Endowment Scholarship, Lawrence Friedman Music Scholarship, Otto Ortman Award and the Peabody Conservatory Graduate Assistantship Full Tuition Award. Ms. Kao was the recipient of an Encore Grant from the American Composers Forum, and a Peabody Development Grant for her collaborative concert tour Living Music. She received First Prize in the Prix D’Ete Composition Competition in 2009 and was the winner of the Peabody Camerarta Composer Contest in 2005. Ms. Kao’s Toccata (for viola and piano) was described as a “challenging and rich work” in the Coral Gables Gazette and her guitar solo work, Lilac.Star.Bird was described as “…an evocative and surreal soundscape…” by Timothy Smith on minor 7th.com and “exceedingly beautiful” by Al Kunze in Soundboard magazine.
Ms. Kao holds her Bachelor’s degree in Theory Composition from the University of Miami, where she also performed extensively as a solo and chamber pianist. Ms. Kao is currently a doctoral candidate at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University where she also received her Masters Degree. Ms. Kao has studied piano with J.B. Floyd and composition with Christopher Theofanidis,John Van der Slice, Robert Gower, Paul Wilson, Lu Wen-Tze and Michael Hersch. Ms. Kao has participated in master classes with Chen Yi, Melissa Hui,Libby Larsen, Nathan Currier and Christopher Rouse.
旅美作曲家高盈眞小姐係台灣台北市人, 畢業於光仁中學音樂班,師事呂文慈老師。2000年赴美學習, 負笈邁阿密大學音樂學院 (University of Miami) 雙主修作曲及鋼琴演奏, 於2004年取得學士學位。2006年取得琵琶第音樂學院碩士學位, 並於同年獲全額獎學金進入該院攻讀音樂藝術博士學位, 2010為該院博士候選人。
高盈真在音樂創作方面優異的表現致使其獲得多項殊榮, 其中包含2005年獲得琵琶第現代音樂作曲比賽冠軍(Peabody Camerarta Composer Contest)、2009年獲得Prix D’Ete 作曲比賽冠軍、Randolph S. Rothschild獎金、琵琶第音樂院生涯發展獎金 (Peabody Development Grant) 、奧圖奧特曼獎金 (Otto Ortman Award) 及美國作曲家協會 (American Composer Forum) 獎金。
高盈真之作品意象清晰, 風格鮮明不拘泥單一形式, 取材多元, 從寬廣的意境到節奏型態繁複且技巧上極具挑戰性之樂句皆為其創作之題材。佛羅里達州Coral Gables時報評其中提琴觸技曲為 「具有挑戰性且豐富之作品」。 吉他雜誌Soundboard評論她的吉他獨奏作品 《Lilac.Star.Bird》為「稀少的音符但非常的動人」。高盈真近期發表之作品包含琵琶第預校委託創作之《The Sunnets to Orpheus》給兒童合唱團及大提琴獨奏、琵琶第音樂院室內樂教授Michael Kannen委託創作曲《Cloud Burst》及由琵琶第音樂院管風琴教授Donald Sutherland和爵士音樂教授Gary Thomas共同首演之作品《The Blue of the End》。高盈真之作品多發表於美洲地區, 於2008年接受台灣區夏日長號研習營之委託創作兩首長號獨奏作品《Transmutation》及《Ancient Memory》充分融合傳統元素及現代作曲技巧。
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