If it feels more convenient, drag it to your desktop

Conversation with Jenny Chen

By Alexis M. Adams

AMA: You are an incredibly friendly performer. Some musicians are a little reserved, but you have a way of embracing the audience and including them in the performance.

JC: To me, performance is a very, very special thing to do. When I’m on the stage, I really want to give all I have to the audience. And, at Tippet Rise, it’s special, so you want to give even more than usual. When you perform in New York City, it often feels like there’s an expectation. The ticket prices are high, so when the audience arrives, they want something. There’s a little pressure. But, at Tippet Rise, the environment and the people bring out the best in the performers. And at Tippet Rise, you’re immersed in nature. As an artist, I feel most comfortable when I’m close to nature. That’s when I have the most natural, the most intimate, feelings—it’s where I’m most calm. And it’s where I can express everything in my heart and out to the audience. So, I think my best performances will always be at Tippet Rise.

AMA: That’s lovely, Jenny. We love having you there. I was just talking to the pianist Adam Golka and he said the best performance he gave was after getting lost hiking in the mountains of Colorado. When he found his way to the trailhead, he had just a few minutes to get ready for his performance, which left him no time for his usual preperformance rituals. He said it wound up being the best performance of his life, and he is sure it was because of that immersive experience in nature. JC: I can imagine that! But those rituals are important. I do exercises every day before I perform, kind of like meditations. Menahem Pressler talked about meditating before he performs—because he gets nervous about performing and because he feels he must develop the highest concentration possible to perform well. Music is an abstract form, and when you’re performing, it’s very easy to lose concentration. For me, I’m an excitable person. My energy can help me lose concentration, so my rituals help me perform the most beautiful music I can make. And I exercise every morning. If I don’t wake up on time, my father calls me, “Jenny, it’s 5 AM! It’s time to exercise!” He does this all the way from Taiwan, every morning. He really cares about me and wants to make sure I do well.

AMA: Do you have a particular composer that you identify with or love to play most of all?

JC: When I was at Curtis, I focused more on piano technique and I didn’t really go in depth with a particular composer. But when I went to get my Master’s degree, I began to fall in love with each composer, all of them. If I had to name one, I’d tell you that Rachmaninoff is really my thing. I think this relates to my childhood when my family was separated in three different places: my father was in Taiwan, my mother was with me in the States, and my brothers were in Taiwan and New Jersey. Before I was 10 years old, we were together all the time and had fun, making lots of great memories, but after that, we were in different places, and this was because of me. Everyone separated because of me: because I got into Curtis, which is really hard to get into. They only take three to six students out of about 350 applicants. The separation was difficult for me. I couldn’t see my family, I didn’t feel the security you feel when you’re with your family. It’s painful when you miss someone, especially at such a young age. Rachmaninoff gave me a way to put myself into the music and express my sorrow.