phyllis chen

My debut CD, UnCaged Toy Piano, was recently reviewed in the All Music Guide,a comprehensive online music review site. This is the first time my CD was praised for its production sensibility, which I’m proud to say was done in my apartment by my partner, Rob.
I recorded the CD at the Bunker Studio in Brooklyn [...]

I have recently been contacted by many composers and toy pianists around the world expressing their enthusiasm for the little instrument. It very much reminds me of what I was like many years ago when I realized that there is a small but dedicated toy piano community out there in the world. As many of [...]

Rob and I just made our journey back to Taipei for the week. I will be meeting with a Schoenhut toy piano dealer from Taiwan tomorrow! Check out their site here.
I have quite a lot of memories coming back to Taiwan to visit family throughout my childhood. I still remember the long flights I would [...]

I have  recently started working on a new piece written for me by the Austrian composer/performer/improviser/educator Karlheinz Essl.  I first heard of Karlheinz from the Extensible Toy Piano Project in 2005 where I performed one of his pieces, Kalimba, for the festival. Since then, I have played numerous of his works for toy piano including Kalimba, [...]

Rob just gave me Haushka’s most recent miniature CD titled small pieces. Hauschka, also known as Volker Bertlemann, is a German composer/musician who’s music revolves around the world of the prepared piano. Most people think of John Cage when they hear “prepared piano.”  There have been many composers and musicians who have continued to experiment [...]