Justine Chen is a composer, violinist and educator.
In Development:
Seven Sisters with Stephanie Fleischmann* (OA Discovery Award)
Splintered with Lila Palmer* & Jorge Sosa* (American Lyric Theater)
The Life & Death of Alan Turing with David Simpatico (ALT & Chicago Opera Theater)
Select Operatic & Vocal:
Jeanne
The Maiden Tower (City Opera VOX & Juilliard)
Three, Two, One - BANG! (Children’s; Long Leaf Opera)
The Dragon (2010; Children’s; North Carolina Opera)
Philomel (Vocal; Aural Compass Project)
New York Scenes (Vocal)
Whilst Alexis Lay Press’d (Vocal)
Most Likely to Say:
“What governed the choice of chocolate for your cake?”
ON THE JOB:
“I have an opinion: would you like to hear it?”
PRESS:
“Propulsive, emotionally resonant”
—The New York Times, on Justine’s music
Native New Yorker composer and violinist Justine F. Chen has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards and commissions, including prizes and funding from BMI, ASCAP, the Jerome Fund for New Music, Frances Goelet Charitable Lead Trust, and Opera America. She has been commissioned and performed by New York City Opera, New York City Ballet, The Juilliard School, New York Festival of Song, JACK Quartet, American Composers Orchestra, Chicago Opera Theater, New Juilliard Ensemble, Washington Ballet, Brooklyn Philharmonic, FLUX Quartet, Concertante, Long Leaf Opera, SPRINGAUTUMN Festival, American Lyric Theater, Chants Libres, and Tapestry Opera. Chen’s collaborations with choreographers have been performed by various companies around the United States. On a piece commissioned by the Juilliard Dance Department, The New York Times wrote, “Chen… blended popular dance rhythms into the kind of propulsive, emotionally resonant score that choreographers tend to dream of.” Chen’s first two operas were both featured on New York City Opera’s Vox Opera Showcase. Her second opera, Jeanne, was described by The New York Times as “lyrical, atmospheric... striking… balances despair and humor.” Notable new projects include Seven Sisters, an opera with librettist Stephanie Fleischmann, exploring the place of women in Taiwanese society, which won the 2020 Female Discovery Award from Opera America, and Motion Studies, a choral work for three-time Grammy-Award-winning choral phenomenon The Crossing. Ms. Chen has been a Resident Artist at American Lyric Theater since 2010, where she is collaborating with librettist Lila Palmer and composer Jorge Sosa on Splintered: A Nutcracker Adventure (2022) and with librettist David Simpatico on a full-length opera based on the life of famous British computer scientist Alan Turing. Turing was presented as part of Opera America’s 2017 New Works Showcase, workshopped by Chicago Opera Theater (2019) and heralded as ‘inventive’ and ‘revelatory’ (Chicago Reader). Ms. Chen completed her doctorate in composition at The Juilliard School, where she also earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in violin and composition.