Carolyn Chen has made music for supermarket, demolition district, and the dark. Recent projects include an audio essay on a scream and commissions for Klangforum Wien and the LA Phil. Playing the guqin, the Chinese zither traditionally played for private meditation in nature, has informed her thinking on listening in social spaces. Described by The New York Times as “the evening’s most consistently alluring … a quiet but lush meditation,” her work has been presented at in 25 countries and supported by the Berlin Prize, the Fulbright Program, ASCAP’s Fred Ho Award, Stanford University’s Sudler Prize, Soros Fellowships for New Americans, MATA Festival, and impuls Festival. Recent essays appear in MusikTexte, Experimental Music Yearbook, and The New Centennial Review. She lives in Los Angeles.