Jen Shyu

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Jen Shyu (born March 28, 1978 in Peoria , Illinois ) is an experimental American singer , composer and multi-instrumentalist who has emerged in both jazz and new improvisation music.

Live and act

Shyu, whose parents are from Taiwan and East Timor , learned classical piano and violin as a child; she performed with the Central Illinois Concert Orchestra and the Peoria Symphony Orchestra . She toured Europe with the US Collegiate Choir . She studied music (opera) at Stanford University ; during an exchange semester she studied psychoacoustics at Oxford; Mark Murphy encouraged her to open up to jazz. After graduation, she moved to San Francisco , where she worked as a producer. Through Francis Wong she began to deal with her roots in Asian cultures and with musicians such as Jon Jang , Lewis Jordan ( The Travels of a Zen Baptist ), John-Carlos Perea, Jimmy Biala, Lester Cobb, Art Hirahara, Doug Yokoyama ( Thanks for Stopping By ) and Tatsu Aoki to work.

Between 2003 and 2011 she worked as a vocalist in the band Five Elements of Steve Coleman , with whom she was on tour internationally and recorded several albums. She also worked with Dave Burrell , Chris Potter , Michael Formanek , Mat Maneri and Miles Okazaki ( Generations ); She also appeared in Anthony Braxton's operas Trillium E and Trillium J and was part of the Positive Catastrophe collective . From 2011 to 2013 she studied the music and dance of Java in Indonesia, before completing several months of training in Pansori and Gayageum Byeongchang at the National Gugak Center in Seoul . She plays various Asian string instruments such as the erhu and also dances.

Shyu released five albums under his own name, most recently Jade Tongue , Inner Chapters and (with Patrícia Magalhães) Raging Waters, Red Sands . She is the first woman to release Pi Recordings from the critically acclaimed Synastry (together with Mark Dresser ). Her band Jade Tongue includes Ambrose Akinmusire , Dan Weiss , Thomas Morgan and Mat Maneri. Since 2014 she has also performed her solo opera Solo Rites: Seven Breaths , directed by Indonesian filmmaker Garin Nugroho .

Prizes and awards

Shyu won the Miss America Talent Scholarship at America's Junior Miss as a teenager . In 2014 she received the Doris Duke Impact Award ; In addition, she received the Brio Prize of the Bronx Council on the Arts in 2007, 2009 and 2011 as well as numerous scholarships.

Discographic notes

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Shyu, Jen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist
DATE OF BIRTH March 28, 1978
PLACE OF BIRTH Peoria , Illinois , United States