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Ying-Da Chen 陳穎達, a guitarist, composer from Taiwan. Considered a jazz guitarist first and foremost, his fourth album of original music came out and, again, showing that he has reached an audience beyond jazz lovers.

“A man with renaissance spirits, using modern tools.” Ying-Da continues to showcase his love for chamber music, played in the form of a jazz quartet, through his free improvisation and musical interpretation of expressionism, and his obsession with love and death as a common theme throughout his compositions has become more clear.

Before moving to New York in Sep 2021, Ying-Da studied classical music in Taipei, jazz music in Amsterdam, and performed frequently at local venues, small and major festivals, and did several tours in Japan, Philippines, Malaysia, and Europe. Performing and writing music had been a big part of his daily life. And of course, in his musical journey there have been dancers. In 2013, one magical semester of weekly free-improv session with graduate students at Taipei National University of the Arts opened a new window for him, a new way to feel and breath, it started to gradually change his music. Since then there have been occasional Improv sessions with dancers, mostly with groups of dancers with several males holding their instruments. In 2018, YD was chosen to perform with the Primal Chaos 混沌身響 -Dance X Sounds improvisation event held by HorseDance 驫舞劇場 in Taipei, where he performed a solo set with a solo dancer Su-Lien Lin. Being the only instrumentalist on set, he was humbled but the responsibility of moving the music forward and liberated by the freedom that came with it.