La Jolla Presbyterian Church, San Diego, CA
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April 2016

Chelsea will play the re-dedication concert for the La Jolla Presbyterian Church organ on April 10, 2016.  Lyle Blackinton, curator of the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, has undertaken this project to renew and expand the LJPC organ, where Chelsea first played as a teenager! For more information please visit the church's website: La Jolla Presbyterian Church

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Peninsula Music Festival
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Chelsea to perform at 2015 Peninsula Music Festival

Chelsea will debut with the Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra on August 11 and 13 in Fish Creek, Wisconsin under the direction of maestro Victor Yampolsky.   She will be performing the following repertoire with the orchestra: Ferdinando Paer: Organ Concerto (conducted by Victor Yampolsky / August 11)  Rheinberger: Organ Concerto, No. 2, Op. 177, in g minor (conducted by Victor Yampolsky / August 11)  Elgar: Sospiri, Op. 70 (conducted by JoAnne Falletta / August 13)  Respighi: Pines of Rome (conducted by JoAnne Falletta / August 13)  For tickets and more information, please click here.

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Disney Hall Los Angeles, CA
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Disney Hall 2014

Chelsea Chen and Christoph Bull performed a "lavishly organ-intensive" transcription of Ravel's Bolero to a packed house at Disney Hall on November 23, 2014.  The blockbuster celebration of "Hurricane Mama's" 10th birthday also featured Ken Cowan, Cherry Rhodes, Fred Swann, Carol Williams, Aaron David Miller, and Cameron Carpenter.   Nationally-renowned radio host Michael Barone of Pipedreams was the master of ceremonies; organ curator Phil Smith and organ builders Manuel Rosales and Caspar von Glatter-Götz were honored for their work on the Disney Hall organ. Check out photos from the concert in the gallery. Listen to the complete concert on Pipedreams here.

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St. Peter's Church New York, NY
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Bach Marathon – Nov. 22, 2014

Chelsea will perform a 75-minute all-Bach program hosted by WQXR at St. Peter's, 54th and Lexington, in Manhattan on Saturday, Nov. 22nd @ 12pm. The program: Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue, BWV 564Leipzig Chorales BWV 653, 654'Legrenzi' Fugue in C Minor, BWV 574 Kirnberger Chorales BWV 711, 712, 713 Trio Sonata in E Minor, BWV 528 "O Mensch bewein", BWV 622 Prelude and Fugue in D Major, BWV 532 Check out this page for the full Bachathon schedule. #bachstock  #WQXR Tickets can be purchased here.  

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Chelsea Chen at Coral Ridge
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Oct. 26 Concert at First Presbyterian, Ft. Lauderdale, 7pm

http://www.southflorida.com/music/sf-lauderdale-presbyterian-chelsea-chen-20141022,0,6858399.story A world-renowned organist and part-time Fort Lauderdale resident will give a free concert Sunday, Oct. 26, performing works by George Gershwin, French classics and an original composition based on Taiwanese folk songs. Chelsea Chen, 30, began serving as artist-in-residence at Coral Ridge Presbyterian in Fort Lauderdale earlier this year, while also having similar duties at Emmanuel Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, her home base. "There's a lot of that back and forth," says Chen, who stays with church friends when in Florida. "I'm lucky I have nice people down here." While she says part of her job is caring for the massive 6,600-pipe organ at Coral Ridge Presbyterian, her concert Sunday will be held at First Presbyterian Church. She says she is flying down Thursday to get accustomed to their organ. Chen was raised in San Diego and moved to New York at 17 to attend Juilliard just before Sept. 11, 2001. "It affected everybody," she recalls. "You had to really dig deep in your soul and think about what you're doing and why you're doing it. In some ways, it girded up the arts community to say that beauty and music and art in general allows us to express our deepest emotions, whether they're painful or joyful." Organ music isn't something people hear every day, and many people outside the organ world don't know what to expect from her concerts, Chen says. "I guess people often associate organs with two things: the Dracula Halloween instrument or the baseball organ," she says. "For me, it can do much more. It can play pieces that are delicate, just like an orchestra, from very soft to extremely loud." Chen says she likes to demonstrate the organ's range with her selections. Her setlist on Sunday will include Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm," French composer Maurice Duruflé's "Prélude et fugue sur le nom...

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