Qigang Chen

Qigang Chen (Chinese: 陈其钢; pinyin: Chén Qígāng, pronounced [tʂʰə̌n t͡ɕǐkɑ́ŋ]) is a composer of Chinese origin born in 1951 in Shanghai. He has lived in France since 1984, and obtained French citizenship in 1992.

Qigang Chen was born into a family of artists, including several members who were sent to the Laogai during the Cultural Revolution. Chen was sent to an ideological reeducation camp. After the introduction of induction courses for higher education in 1977, Chen passed a series of tests which allowed him to go and study abroad. At the age of 33 he arrived in Paris where he was the final student of Olivier Messiaen until 1988.

Awards

Chen received the 2005 Symphony Music Award of SACEM, Paris, and 2006 prize of the Académie Charles Cros. Chen Qigang was Music Director of the 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing

o First prize (awarded by the French Ministry of Culture) in the International Composition Contest (Buffet Crampon) for clarinet and string quartet in Paris