Jen Shyu

**JADE TONGUE CD NOW AVAILABLE** WWW.JENSHYU.COM, or DOWNLOAD @ WWW.JENSHYU.BANDCAMP.COM** Born and raised in Peoria, Illinois, from immigrant parents of East Timor and Taiwan, Jen Shyu is a musician, composer, dancer, and band leader based in New York City. She has also recorded and toured with saxophonist Steve Coleman and Five Elements since 2003. Having studied dance from age 6, piano from age 7, and violin from age 8, she performed as piano soloist at age 13 the Finale of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra and placed 6th at age 9 at the Stravinsky International Piano Competition. Jen studied opera at Stanford University (B.A. 2000), Oxford University in England, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and the Lake Placid Institute in New York. Before moving to NY, Jen lived three years collaborating with Bay Area musicians, producing her debut album “For Now” (4am Music 2002).~~~~~~~~~~
Since 2001, Jen has traveled many times to Taiwan to research Taiwanese folk and aboriginal music, twice to Cuba to study Afro-Cuban music and dance and to investigate the history of the Chinese Cubans, and to Brazil to study dance with Rosangela Silvestre and Vera Passos. Jen recently composed for and performed with actress/performance artist Soomi Kim on her piece "Lee/gendary" inspired by Bruce Lee at the first National Asian American Theatre Festival. Having also worked with late great poet Sekou Sundiata on his "51st Dream State," Jen is currently fostering her multidisciplinary composition project "Jade Tongue" and her solo project "Inner Chapters." She is currently in rehearsal for a recording of Anthony Braxton's opera "Trillium E" @ Systems Two, March 18-21. 2009 MacDowell Fellow, 2008 Roulette Space/Jerome Foundation "Emerging Artist" Commission & World Premiere of "Cry of a Nomad" with choreographer Satoshi Haga, 2007 Asian Cultural Council Fellow, 2006 and 2008 Bronx Council on the Arts "BRIO" Award for Composition, 2009 Jazz Gallery/Jerome Foundation "Vocal Commission" recipient for the premiere of 'Raging Waters, Red Sands'. (more: www.jenshyu.com)
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DISCOGRAPHY:
Jen Shyu solo: Inner Chapters (pending)
Steve Coleman & Five Elements (Pi Recordings, pending)
Jen Shyu & Jade Tongue (2009 Chiuyen Music)
Miles Okazaki, Generations (Sunnyside Records, 2009)
Taylor Ho Bynum & Aib Gomez-Delgado, Positive Catastrophe (Cuneiform Records, 2009)
Steve Coleman & Five Elements, Weaving Symbolics (February 2006, Label Bleu).
Steve Coleman & Five Elements, Lucidarium (February 2005, Label Bleu).
Jen Shyu Quartet, For Now (May 2002). Debut jazz album as bandleader.
Doug Yokoyama Quartet, Thanks For Stopping By (Dec. 2002).
Lewis Jordan Quartet, More Travels of a Zen Baptist (Oct. 2002).
Asian Improv Records, Soko Arts Festival 2001 (May 2001).