ALEX CHEN
Piano, Voice & Art Song
I am a collaborative pianist, baritone, and zoologically-trained nature lover. With an artistic practice that encompasses Baroque coloratura, misty Debussy piano passages, and advocacy for nature, I am ready to bring fresh perspectives to your next collaboration!
On faculty and the Victoria Conservatory of Music, I coach singers and pianists of diverse backgrounds and regularly perform in recitals, competitions, and festivals.
My work & Collaborations
Wearing multiple hats including composer, musician, and author, I recently created the ocean stewardship project The Adventures of Kelp Creature with Ocean Wise. A whimsical narrative about the kelp forests of Salish Sea, it is available on this website in musical audiobook & digital picture book formats (released February & October 2024, respectively).
Contributing as a producer and pianist, I will be releasing the short film Green to the public in 2025 (supported by the Canada Council for the Arts). Based on Debussy’s Ariettes oubliées, this project with Gay4Nature Collective explores queer and ecological resonances in the art song repertoire.
As a baritone, recent solo highlights include performances in J.S. Bach’s Coffee Cantata (Gay4Nature), Christmas Oratorio (Victoria Philharmonic Choir), and Trauerode (American Bach Festival, San Francisco); Charpentier’s Missa Assumpta est Maria (Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Festival); and Fauré’s Requiem.
Other notable projects include community engagement through The Citizen Soundscape with BC Culture Days, Chinese art song repertoire development with pianist Jialiang Zhu, and annual performances in Victoria’s Awakening Chinatown.
ARts Leadership
Since 2020, I have fostered skills in arts leadership, production, and administration through the Association for Opera in Canada’s RBC Future Launch & Opera Artists Resilience programs and the Belfry Theatre’s Art Leadership Program. Work with Pacific Opera Victoria and re:Naissance Opera in administrative and producer capacities have further developed my portfolio of skills.
I co-founded the Gay4Nature Collective in 2023 with soprano Anna-Bigland Pritchard to spearhead ecological and queer interpretations of classical music. On the heels of our 2024 queer Coffee Cantata tour, the Collective has activated new spaces for musical exploration and queer community.
Thriving in cross-disciplinary collaborations, I also lead through the forging of novel partnerships with organizations like Ocean Wise, BC Culture Days, Swan Lake Nature House, and Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
