Belle Chen

A meditative musical forest.

Pianist Belle Chen creates meditative soundscapes that drift through the space and embrace the listener. She uses synthesisers and electronic soundscapes to extend and enhance the sound of the piano.

When Australian-Taiwanese Chen went to London to study music, she played Beethoven, Chopin and the core classical repertoire, but she also wanted to use her training to explore new sounds and personal forms of expression. During her studies, she would sneak into music technology lectures and learn recording techniques and studio production skills. Today, she uses these skills as tools to tell her own stories.

Her 2024 album Ravel In The Forest attracted considerable attention from both long-standing and new listeners to Ravel. The album was inspired by a sunset in Australia, when Chen experienced nature coming to life and illuminating her own place in the ecosystem. Chen draws on Ravel’s musical language and direct quotations from works including the Piano Concerto in G major and the String Quartet in F major, but transforms them into her own musical idiom and a sonic meditation on humanity’s place in nature.

At this concert in Håkonshallen, she will perform music from Ravel In The Forest, alongside material from her forthcoming album, due for release in 2027.

Belle Chen. Photo: Matthew Johnson