Ying-Hsueh Chen is an internationally acclaimed percussionist, performance artist and composer who has garnered attention for her visionary approach, captivating stage presence, and extraordinary interpretations of contemporary music. Now she is releasing the solo album Dark Radiance, where she takes listeners on a musical journey that meticulously weave the past into the present.

Pre-save the album to your library via this link.

Traditional instruments

Taiwanese Ying-Hsueh Chen is a graduate of The Juilliard School in New York and the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. She has been based in Denmark since 2006, where she has played a role in pushing the boundaries of the contemporary music scene in recent years. Her musical endeavours
span a range of genres, and she is especially interested in exploring the intersection of ancient and contemporary music, for example by incorporating trance-inducing, and consciousness-expanding percussion styles.

Chen has a long-standing interest in traditional instruments from around the world, which is reflected in the instruments chosen for Dark Radiance: bass drum, muyu (Buddhist ‘wooden fish’ woodblock), jing (Korean brass gong) and marimba.

Improvisation and meditation

Nearly every piece on the album Dark Radiance is devoted to a single instrument, and each, for the most part, emerges from a single musical gesture or action, creating sounds from the thunderous to the delicate. Several pieces are made from an improvisational practice; according to her own description, Ying-Hsueh Chen worked like a folk musician would, by remembering a basic structure but freely making variations on that, without ever writing anything down.

Meditations on One Buddhist Woodblock in which Chen explores the possibilities of the woodblock, is perhaps the most tightly restricted of all the pieces. Tunnel and Fireworks take inspiration from different religious rituals, and thee pieces for marimba – Flames, Nocturne and Dawn – provide tonal contrasts to the pieces for untuned percussion. In Dark Radiance, the longest and most complex work on the album, Ying-Hsueh Chen is using skin, wood and metal to create a deep sound meditation.

Release concert and singles

Today the single Dawn is released, a meditative piece for solo marimba, in which Chen restricts her playing to only using the notes of C major, mimicing the gradual lightening of the morning sky. Listen via this link. 
Earlier this year the work Dark Radiance was also released as a single. Listen via this link or watch the trailer for the music video here.

Release concert and movie showing for Dark Radiance takes place at Koncertkirken, Blågårds Plads 6A, on 29 October at 16.00.