“I work with Pulse.

For me, pulse is always made of two things: attack and resonance. An attack happens, and something remains. It is inseparable from memory—from the way a memory returns, strikes, resonates, fades, and returns again. 

I do not come from any single culture. I come from my childhood, from the memories I cannot let go of, and from the traumata I cannot escape.”

Yuheng Chen – Composer, Pianist, and Contemporary Arts Event Organizer. Born in 1998 in Jinan, China.

Chen studied composition with Michael Jarrell and Clara Iannotta, as well as electroacoustic composition with Karlheinz Essl and Jorge Sánchez-Chiong, at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw). Chen then completed the International Ensemble Modern Academy (IEMA) master’s programme at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts (HfMDK), with mentors Ulrich Kreppein and Dietmar Wiesner.

Chen’s music is performed by renowned ensembles and orchestras, including the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Recherche, PHACE, Ensemble NAMES, and Ensemble Platypus. Chen has received numerous prizes, including third prize at the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award (2023), first prize at the Gustav Mahler Composition Prize (2026), first prize at the Frank Robert Abell Young Composers Competition (2023), and first prize at the Irino Composition Prize (2023), among others. Chen’s music has been presented at festivals including Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, Tokyo Opera City Composium, impuls in Graz, Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik, Klangspuren Schwaz, Festival Mixtur Barcelona, and Wien Modern.