audrey chen is a chinese-american musician and performance artist born outside of chicago in 1976. using the cello, voice and analog electronics, chen’s work focuses on the combination and layering of traditional and extended techniques.
a large component of her music is improvised and her approach to this is often extremely personal and visceral. her performance work incorporates sound, movement and visual/sculptural concepts.
chen performs solo and in collaboration with a wide number of musicians and dancers. among musicians, she has worked with many great improvisers, including phil minton, elliott sharp, aki onda, phill niblock, frederic blondy, jim pugliese, alessandro bosetti, mike cooper, mats gustafsson, mazen kerbaj, michael zerang, tatsuya nakatani, le quan ninh, joe mcphee, susan alcorn, michele doneda, paolo angeli, and gianni gebbia.
some current projects include: duos with phil minton, frederic blondy, robert van heumen, katt hernandez, nate wooley, a new trio project with nate wooley and c. spencer yeh, 3aande: with seamus cater, robert van heumen and nate wooley and trockeneis: with andy hayleck, dan breen, catherine pancake and paul neidhardt.
chen has performed in europe, russia, australia, new zealand, china, japan, taiwan and the usa.
she is currently based in baltimore, md usa where she is member of the red room and high zero collective, an on-going series and international festival devoted to experimental improvised music.