Music
Assistant Professor
Piano Performance, Piano Chamber Music, Piano Pedagogy and Related Studies, Performing Arts Medicine and Injury Prevention
Doctor of Musical Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Pianist Chu-Chun Yen began studying piano at the age of three. She graduated from the Affiliated Senior High School of National Taiwan Normal University and Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA), where she was the top-ranked piano student. At age 17, she represented Taiwan at the 5th Mauro Paolo Monopoli International Piano Competition in Italy, winning Fifth Prize in the Adult Division as the youngest participant.
Awarded the Ministry of Education’s government scholarship for overseas study, Yen earned her master’s degree from the Eastman School of Music under Prof. Barry Snyder and her doctoral degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under Prof. Ian Hobson. During her studies in the United States, she was selected as a Krannert Center Debut Artist and received prizes at several international competitions, including the Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition and the Southern Illinois Young Artist Competition.
Since returning to Taiwan, Yen has remained active as a soloist and chamber musician. In 2016, she founded SEMPRE Chamber Music, where she serves as Artistic Director, and formed the SEMPRE Piano Trio with violinist Chih-Hung Tseng and cellist Yu-Han Chen. The ensemble has presented a series of themed concerts, including Russian Impressions (2017), Folk Music Inspirations (2020), and German-Austrian Classics (2022). In recent years, Yen has further explored interdisciplinary concert formats, integrating music with visual art, photography, and literature in Ballet on the Keys (2023), One Day (2024), and Stories of Love—Music and Literature (2026), demonstrating her commitment to artistic excellence and innovative concert presentation.
Yen’s academic research focuses on the interdisciplinary field of performing arts medicine, particularly the prevention of playing-related musculoskeletal injuries among pianists. Supported by research funding from Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), her work investigates the relationships between piano-playing posture and muscular activity through collaborations with medical professionals, with the goal of translating research findings into practical strategies for injury prevention. She is also involved in research on music-based interventions in healthcare, exploring the use of classical music to reduce anxiety and depression among patients with cancer and to enhance the quality of patient care.