Biography

Chien-Wen Cheng received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Music Composition at the University of North Texas, where he studied music composition and computer music with Andrew May, Cindy McTee, Phil Winsor, and Joseph Rovan, with music theory as his related field. He also pursued graduate studies in piano and percussion, and has extensive training as an erhu player. Currently he works as a full-time assistant professor in the Department of Interaction Design at the National Taipei University of Technology in Taiwan. Besides, he also teaches adjunctively in the Music Department at  Taipei University of Education.

He has won numerous awards for his acoustic music including: winner of the NTSO (National Taiwan Symphonic Orchestra) Composer Commission competition in 2013; winner of TMC (Taiwan Music Center) International Composition Competition in 2012 (Taiwan)； 3rd prize in 2011 NTSO orchestral composition competition (Taiwan); first prize in the “2007 Dallas Symphony Orchestra / Voices of Change Young Composers Competition” (USA); second prize in the “2006 Fine Arts Creation Award” (Taiwan); finalist in the “2006 Chang-huei Syu International Composition Competition” (Taiwan); fourth prize in “The 3rd Percussion Music Composing Competition” (2005, Taiwan); selected work in “2004 Taiwanese Young Composers’ Masterpieces” call-for-scores competition; fourth prize in “2003 Fine Arts Creation Award” (Taiwan); selected work in the 2002 orchestral call-for-scores competition in “Tune in to Taiwan – Taiwan Composers Series”; fourth prize in the “2000 Hakka Vocal Music Composition Contest” (Taiwan).

He was awarded a scholarship of $50,000 during 2005-2007 from the Ministry of Education in Taiwan for studying real-time interactive computer music in USA. His electro-acoustic pieces won the Regional Composition Prize in ICMC 2008, and honorary mention in Musica Nova competition (2011). His works were also among the finalists in Musica Nova International Competition of Electroacoustic Music (2010), Città di Udine International Composition Competition of Electroacoustic Music (2010), Bourge International Composition Competition (2009), and VI Concurso Internacional de Miniaturas Electroacusticas 2008 (Spain). Besides, he won the first prize in both 2005 and 2006 National On-line Arts Creativity Competition in Taiwan, and the second prize in 2007. His electroacoustic works are included in SEAMUS CD and DVD, MIT Computer Musical Journal DVD, and ICMC CD releases. His electroacoustic pieces have also been recognized through performances at music festivals and conferences including: Bourges Synthèse Festival in France (2006); SEAMUS National Conference (2005, 2006, 2007); the International Computer Music Conference (2005, 2006, 2008); the Bellingham Electronic Arts Festival in Washington (2005); the Santa Fe International Festival of Electroacoustic Music in New Mexico (2004, 2006); the Spark Festival in Minnesota (2006); the “Primavera en La Habana” International Electro-acoustic Music Festival in Cuba (2004, 2006); the Most Significant Bytes Multimedia Concert in Ohio (2004); the LaTex Electronic Festival in Texas (2004, 2005); New Music/New Media Concert in Oklahoma (2005).

Short Biography (337 words) (May 2017)

Chien-Wen Cheng received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Music Composition at the University of North Texas in 2007, specializing in interactive computer music composition. Currently he works as a full-time associate professor in the Department of Interaction Design at the National Taipei University of Technology in Taiwan. Besides, he also teaches adjunctively in the Music Department at the Taipei University of Education.

He has won numerous composition awards and honors including: winner in the 2013 NTSO (National Taiwan Symphonic Orchestra) Composer Commission Competition (Taiwan); winner in 2012 TMC (Taiwan Music Center) international Composition Competition (Taiwan); third prize in 2011 NTSO orchestral composition competition (Taiwan); first prize in the “2007 Voices of Change Young Composers Competition” (USA); second prize in the “2006 Fine Arts Creation Award” (Taiwan); fourth prize in “The 3rd Percussion Music Composing Competition” (Taiwan, 2005); winner of the 2002 NSO (National Symphonic Orchestra) "Tune in to Taiwan” Orchestral Call-for-scores Competition; fourth prize in the “2000 Hakka Vocal Music Composition Contest” (Taiwan); first prizes (2005, 2006) and second prize (2007) in the On-line Art Creativity Competitions (Taiwan); winner of ICMC 2008 Regional Composition Prize (UK); honorary mention in the 2011 Musica Nova International Competition of Electroacoustic Music (Czech), and finalists in the 2010 Musica Nova International Competition of Electroacoustic Music (Czech), 2010 Città di Udine International Composition Competition of Electroacoustic Music (Italy), 2009 Bourge International Composition Competition (France), and VI Concurso Internacional de Miniaturas Electroacusticas 2008 (Spain). His electroacoustic works have been published on the ICMC, SEAMUS, and MIT Computer Music Journal DVD and CD series.

Dr. Cheng also started to expand his research and creative works in interdisciplinary performing arts projects since 2007, programming and composing for interactive dance performance projects, such as Nexus (sponsored by Digital Arts Center), Nexus II (sponsored by Council of Cultural Affairs), and Thinking of the Past (sponsored by Ministry of Culture). His rich performance record has made him won the ASCAP Plus Award annually from 2006 to 2013. For more information about Dr. Cheng’s research and creative works, visit his website: http://cw-cheng.blogspot.tw/   

Shorter Biography (Within 250 words)(Dec 2024)

Chien-Wen Cheng received his D.M.A. in Music Composition at the University of North Texas (2007), specializing in interactive computer music composition. Currently he works as full-time associate professor in the Department of Interaction Design at National Taipei University of Technology in Taiwan. He has won numerous composition awards and honors including: Best Background Music in Moonwhite International Film Festival (2018); winner of the NTSO (National Taiwan Symphonic Orchestra) composer commission competition (2013); winner of the 2012 TMC international Composition Competition (Taiwan); third prize in 2011 NTSO orchestral composition competition (Taiwan); first prize in the “2007 Voices of Change Young Composers Competition” (USA); second prize in the “2006 Fine Arts Creation Award” (Taiwan); fourth prize in “The 3rd Percussion Music Composing Competition” (Taiwan, 2005); selected work in the 2002 orchestral call-for-scores competition in “Tune in to Taiwan – Taiwan Composers Series”; fourth prize in the “2000 Hakka Vocal Music Composition Contest” (Taiwan); first prizes (2005, 2006) and second prize (2007) in the On-line Art Creativity Competitions (Taiwan); ICMC 2008 Regional Composition Prize (UK); honorary mention in Musica Nova International Competition of Electroacoustic Music (2011), and finalists in Musica Nova International Competition of Electroacoustic Music (2010), Città di Udine International Composition Competition of Electroacoustic Music (2010), Bourge International Composition Competition (2009), and VI Concurso Internacional de Miniaturas Electroacusticas 2008 (Spain). His electroacoustic works were also included in ICMC, SEAMUS, and Computer Music Journal DVD and CD releases.

Shorter Biography  (within 150 words) (Jan 2018)

Chien-Wen Cheng received his D.M.A. in Music Composition at the University of North Texas (2007), specializing in interactive computer music. Currently he works as associate professor in the Department of Interaction Design at National Taipei University of Technology in Taiwan. He also teaches music theory and composition adjunctively in the Music Department at Taipei University of Education. He has won numerous composition awards and honors mainly including: "best background score" at Moonwhite International Film Festival (India, 2018), winner of the NTSO Composer Commission Competition (Taiwan, 2013); winner of the TMC international Composition Competition (2012); third prize in the 2011 NTSO Orchestral Composition Competition (Taiwan); winner of ICMC 2008 Regional Composition Prize (UK); first prize in the 2007 Voices of Change Young Composers Competition (USA); second prize in the 2006 Fine Arts Creation Award (Taiwan); first prizes (2005, 2006) in the On-line Art Creativity Competitions (Taiwan); winner of the 2002 NSO "Tune in to Taiwan” Orchestral Call-for-scores Competition. His electroacoustic works have been included in the ICMC, SEAMUS, and Computer Music Journal DVD and CD series.

Shortest Biography (within 80 words)

Chien-Wen Cheng received D.M.A. in Music Composition at the University of North Texas. He works as associate professor at the Department of Interaction Design at National Taipei University of Technology in Taiwan. He has won the first prize in the “2007 Voices of Change Composition Competition” (USA) and ICMC 2008 Regional Composition Prize (UK), etc. His music works were included in ICMC, SEAMUS, and Computer Music Journal DVD and CD releases.