Zhi Jie Chen
Zhi Jie Chen is a Chinese-American multi-instrumentalist and composer. He is a third-year student studying at Macaulay Honors College at Brooklyn College. Zhi is double majoring in Music Composition and Piano Performance at the Conservatory of Music, studying under Professor Jeffrey Biegel and Professor Polina Nazaykinskaya. Beginning at a young age, he suffered from mild to moderate hearing loss in both ears. As a musician, this was detrimental to him, as he would struggle to hear his peers or teachers, but it never stopped him from continuing his musical studies. He is a classical and jazz musician, well-versed in piano, vibraphone, voice, and guitar, as well as a composer, writing music to short films and participating in numerous music competitions.
Zhi has won many prizes in his age category in competitions such as the Forte International Piano Competition and the online International Music Festival-Competition in Spain with Stars of Tenerife 2020. He most recently participated in the Score Relief 2021 Competition, a virtual film scoring competition hosted by the CubeTube to help fundraise in support of the Backup Hardship Fund, which provides relief to technical workers from the events and entertainment industries, and their families who have lost income or experienced other difficulties as a result of the pandemic.
Zhi also collaborated with his mentor, Professor Jeffrey Biegel, and orchestrator Harrison Sheckler on the professor’s composition, Three Reflections for piano and orchestra, originally composed as three solo piano pieces during COVID lockdowns. Each reflection is an American value, with an American historical figure as the subject, using their names to form the theme for each piece: Reflection of Freedom: John Fitzgerald Kennedy; Reflection of Justice: Ruth Bader Ginsburg; Reflection of Equality: Martin Luther King. Taking Professor Biegel’s live piano recording and the orchestral score from Harrison Sheckler, Zhi Chen created a nearly human sonic landscape using digital orchestral sample libraries in Logic Pro X to create audio demos. These demos allowed Professor Biegel to showcase his Three Reflections to conductors and orchestras throughout the United States and to premiere his composition live for audiences across the world.
Building on the momentum of his recent successes, Zhi began working with his jazz Professor Ronnie Burrage as an intern, taking a deep dive into the real world of a working musician. He began to utilize the skills he acquired throughout his youth, assisting in arranging several big band charts of the professor’s original works, accompanying him to St Louis to perform with Professor Burrage and his Holographic Principle Orchestra, directing live mixing, lighting, video and audio playback, and keeping rehearsals running smoothly. In his free time, Zhi enjoys surfing and doing gymnastics with his little brother on the beach near his home in Far Rockaway, New York, jamming with friends, and taking care of his grandparents.