"The sound worlds of Chen Yi (b. 1953) and Karen Tanaka (b. 1961) are very different places, but they are linked by some important elements. Both composers show fastidious craftsmanship: The timbres, textures, and harmonies are chosen with such care that each piece feels like a three-dimensional sculpture. Both were born in the Far East and show an approach to composition that is organic rather than reliant on imposed forms. A prolific composer of chamber, orchestral, and vocal pieces, Chen Yi tries to distill from Chinese and Western traditional music the essential character and spirit and to develop materials abstractly in accordance with new concepts. During her youth she absorbed the folk music and culture of the Chinese countryside, and it has become a key inspiration for her compositions. Karen Tanaka has composed extensively for both instrumental and electronic media, including several major orchestral works. Major influences on Tanaka's music are French composers such as Debussy, Ravel, and Messiaen, as well as the scientific musical research at IRCAM. Tanaka's recent works develop new directions in her musical language using the latest technology and reflecting different aspects of contemporary culture. Her love of nature and concern for the environment has influenced many of her works, including these three chamber pieces."-New World

"Recipient of the prestigious Charles Ives Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Chen Yi has served as a Distinguished Professor in Music Composition at the Conservatory of the University of Missouri-Kansas City since 1998. Born in 1953 in Guangzhou, China, Ms. Chen has received music degrees from the Beijing Central Conservatory and Columbia University in the City of New York (DMA). Ms. Chen's major composition teachers included Professors Chou Wen-chung, Mario Davidovsky, Wu Zu-qiang and Alexander Goehr.

Ms. Chen has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the Lieberson Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She has received major commissions from the Koussevitzky, Fromm, Ford, and Rockefeller foundations, the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, the San Francisco Arts Commission, and Carnegie Hall. Commissioning ensembles and soloists include the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Mira Wang along with the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, and the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony, Yo-Yo Ma and the Pacific Symphony, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Women's Philharmonic, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Philadelphia Classical Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Tokyo-born composer Karen Tanaka studied composition with Akira Miyoshi and piano with Nobuko Amada at Toho Gakuen School of Music. She then moved to Paris in 1986 to study composition with Tristan Murail and work at IRCAM as an intern. In 1987 she was awarded the Gaudeamus Prize at the International Music Week in Amsterdam. She studied with Luciano Berio in Florence in 1990-91 with funds from the Nadia Boulanger Foundation and a Japanese Government Scholarship. She has been co- artistic director of the Yatsugatake Kogen Music Festival, previously directed by Toru Takemitsu. In 2005 she was awarded the Bekku Prize.

Since 2000, she has had significant premieres including five orchestral works: Guardian Angel for the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Departure for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Lost Sanctuary for the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Rose Absolute commissioned by the Michael Vyner Trust for the NHK Symphony Orchestra conducted by Esa Pekka Salonen, and Urban Prayer for Joan Jeanrenaud (cello) and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kent Nagano. The performance of Guardian Angel by the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl in July 2002 brought her music to the attention of the large audience in Los Angeles.

The Azure Ensemble has been a contemporary music presence in New York City and nationally since 1999. With a special emphasis on the music of living women composers, the Ensemble has an extensive commissioning history. The diverse instrumentation of the ensemble offers the flexibility to program unique compositions. The Azure Ensemble works directly with composers in order to effectively communicate their musical concepts. Commissions and premieres include works by Gabriela Lena Frank, Stella Sung, Yuriko Häse Kojima, Anne LeBaron, Zhou Long, Alexandra du Bois, Judith Shatin, Tristan Keuris, Marilyn Bliss, David Stock, Jacqueline Jeeyoung Kim, Alan Frederick Shockley, Alice Shields, Cynthia Folio, and Pablo Ortiz.

The Azure Ensemble has performed in such diverse venues as Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, the International Computer Music Conference at Tulane University in New Orleans, and on tour with the Arcady Music Festival in Maine. Other performances of the Ensemble have included presentations by the Kosciuszko Foundation of New York City, broadcast live on WQXR, the Morris Museum in New Jersey, New York University, and Temple University in Philadelphia."-from the liner notes