Chen Yupeng

Chen was born on January 15, 1984, in Changsha, Hunan. The first musical inspiration came to Chen at age six, when he watched the Japanese animated film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) by Hayao Miyazaki. Though he did not understand the story, he was deeply moved by the soundtrack and "felt the power of music" for the first time. When Chen was 16, he learned basic theories of composition under Ju Zongze (), a teacher and assistant lecturer at Shenzhen Arts School. He taught music theory, solfeggio, etc. When Chen attended Tanimura's master class in 2005, Later that year, Chen graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music with honors ==Film and television scoring career==

Armor Hero series In 2009, Chen composed the soundtrack for the first season of Armor Warriors, directed by Zheng Guowei (). The story tells of five gifted people who don magical battle armor handed down in China since ancient times, and together they become warriors representing the power of light. They fight against forces of darkness to save their world. In 2010, the series was followed by the film Armor Hero Emperor, which Zheng Guowei also directed and Chen scored. It was one of the films that competed in the Golden Deer Awards at the 15th Changchun Film Festival in 2020. Raymond Yip films The first film score Chen independently produced was for Bump in the Road, a 2013 comedy film directed by Raymond Yip (). The 2017 sequel, The House That Never Dies II, was directed by Qian Renhao (). Chen composed its ending theme song, "Soul Returns" (). Aside from horror music, Chen took on four themes for the soundtrack: fate, love, and the ordinary and magical sides of the Palace Theater. These themes blend and change with each other. Chen composed "The Mist," the film's theme song that takes on love. and criticism. Jonathan Broxton of Movie Music UK, in his film score review, wrote, "Phantom of the Theatre has, quite rightly, been the recipient of quite a bit of critical praise in 2016, and despite its flaws I certainly recommend it for anyone wanting to dip their toes into Chinese film music." Butterfly Cemetery In April 2016, Chen was invited to produce the score for Butterfly Cemetery. A film based on a novel of the same name by Cai Jun () and directed by Ma Weihao (), it tells of a woman named Shang Xiaodi who meets a half-butterfly man during a trip to Budapest. Compared to his previous film works, Chen chose a more modern style for the music, and the techniques he employed were influenced by German composer Hans Zimmer's minimalist style. Since the story is set in Hungary, Chen incorporated Hungarian elements into the music. The music production went on for five months, and the film was released in October 2017. Magic Town In 2015, Motion Magic () invited Chen to compose songs for Magic Town, an educational program for children. Most of the creative team were first-time parents or had young children, including Chen, whose partner was expecting their daughter. As Chen was about to become a father, he was motivated and proud to take on the project. Magic Town had nearly a hundred songs that took almost two years to produce, and many were improvised by Chen when he first worked on them. Chen considered the diversity of musical styles and incorporated elements from various genres such as folk, jazz, rock, electronic dance, new age, etc. He also took into account the fact that children are "exposed to advanced knowledge and culture". Therefore, he used trendy elements for nursery rhymes. The overall experience of working on the project was much different compared to Chen's past film and television works in terms of emotions. In film music, various emotions are present, including negative ones such as anger, fear, anxiety, and depression; Chen felt these as he composed. Magic Town was different because of its overall positive, bright themes. The show premiered in December 2016. At the same time, the music was released across four albums. ==Game music production==

Moonlight Blade In 2015, Chen began to work as one of the music producers for Moonlight Blade, a martial arts-themed MMORPG by Tencent Games. The arpeggio elements in the music from Final Fantasy inspired Chen's work on the track. In February 2017, Chen released an album containing his works for Moonlight Blade from 2015 to 2017, including "Thousand People, Thousand Faces" in the tracklist. Chen later adapted the song into "Wind of the World" (), a theme song for The World of Swinging Swords () competition in November 2017. In 2018, Chen composed the theme song "Dreams of Farewell" () for Yihua (), one of the martial arts sects players can choose to join upon creating their character. The theme of the song was based on a soundtrack previously created for Moonlight Blade, "Treading the Waves in the Sea" () by Liang Bangyan (). It was a challenge since the theme may not be suitable for singing, and for Chen to adapt the work of a senior composer he admired. Previously, Chen arranged theme songs by himself. This time, to bring new ideas to players, he invited a composer from Beijing, Cui Zhi'en (), to participate in the song production. Another person was supposed to work on the sound mixing, but since each revision brought new inspiration, Chen mixed the song himself. The song was written by Wubi () and sung by Zhou Shen (). In 2019, Chen produced the Taibai () sect theme, "Saying Sword." Wang Yibo () provided his vocals for the song. The folk music and strings were performed by Qingqin Qingqing and the International Master Philharmonic Orchestra (), respectively. "Saying Sword" was Chen's final work for Moonlight Blade before producing the soundtrack for Genshin Impact. Genshin Impact In 2019, video game developer company miHoYo got Chen to produce the soundtrack for their title Genshin Impact with their in-house music studio HOYO-MiX. It was Chen's first major video game work, and he described the project as a difficult challenge. The game has an open-world environment that features areas referred to as regions, with visual designs inspired by different world cultures. In composing the music for these regions, Chen chose a style that integrates elements of traditional folk music with Western musical arrangements. On top of idyllic rural scenery, medieval European architectural styles and cultures inspired the design of Mondstadt. In composing the music for Mondstadt, Chen borrowed the language and rhythm of Impressionism and used the piano, tin whistle instruments, and medieval-style lutes. The Mondstadt soundtrack was performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. For Liyue, which had scenic Eastern fantasy as its basis, he used elements of Chinese folk music—traditional instruments, the pentatonic scale, and ancient tonal melodies—with Western romantic harmonies and orchestral arrangements. The Liyue soundtrack was performed by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. Chen especially enjoyed composing combat music, using various composition techniques such as polyphony and taking orchestration elements from composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven. Chen later got awarded "Outstanding Artist – Newcomer/Breakthrough" at the Annual Game Music Awards 2020 held by the music journalism website Video Game Music Online (VGMO). In 2022, a selected number of Genshin Impact soundtracks, including Chen's compositions "Liyue," "Rapid as Wildfires," and "Contemplation in Snow," got included in the 2022 Winter Olympics music library to be used in sports exhibitions. "Contemplation in Snow" was featured in a promotional video for the Beijing National Speed Skating Oval, a competition area constructed specially for the event. Departure {{Blockquote On September 12, 2023, Chen announced on his Sina Weibo and Bilibili profiles that after careful consideration, he had chosen to leave the miHoYo company and its music studio, HOYO-MiX, to pursue his personal interests. He stated that he will continue to explore [his] path of music, and plans to release his own instrumental music album in 2024. Justice On September 16, 2024, Justice () announced the launch of an independent music brand named "Nishui Changqin" (), created exclusively for the game and its players. This initiative aims to promote traditional Chinese music, inspired by the figure of Prince Changqin from "Classic of Mountains and Seas," and to bridge cultural communication through music. The game's developers have partnered with Chen to lead this project. {{Blockquote The music, set to debut in the Version 2.2 expansion, will infuse every aspect of the game, from environments to dungeons and storylines, with a rich blend of Chen's unique style and Chinese cultural elements. This partnership marks the beginning of a long-term collaboration between Justice and Chen, with plans for more diverse and innovative music in future updates. The game studio has pledged to provide Chen with creative freedom and resources to further explore and push the boundaries of traditional Chinese music in gaming. {{Blockquote ==Personal projects==

2017: Time Tunnel and Midnight Radio On April 14, 2017, Chen released the singles "Midnight Radio" and "Time Tunnel." He composed both songs while Tian Chenming () wrote the lyrics. They previously collaborated on various projects, including Armor Hero Emperor (2010), Chen wrote "Time Tunnel" eight years before its release when he had planned to release ten songs in "honor of his passing youth". He then intended to dedicate these songs to those who supported him, and his friend Tian had also encouraged him multiple times to release his own song album. Tian commented on the song, "The lyrics were written in 2009, and now it's already 2017. It wasn't until recently that Zhiyi finished recording and released them. Unconsciously, there have been significant changes in choice of words, habits, and style, as well as different themes for different age groups. Every time I seriously contemplate this, it feels like stepping into a time tunnel." 2018: ''You're Not Here and A Cup of Moon'' In 2018, Chen collaborated with lyricist Jing Qian () to produce the song "You're Not Here" (). The song was based on a poem that Jing wrote at the time his grandfather had died, two years prior to the song's creation. When Chen read the poem for the first time, his grandfather had also recently died. He decided to finish the song in one go as his grandmother was also seriously ill. And before releasing the song, Chen had many of his relatives and his grandmother listen to it before she died. The song was released on February 1, 2018. Chen said, "I personally think that this is a completely non-commercial song about family affection, expressing my deepest thoughts. I hope that others can understand my feelings, but I don't want it to be overly snooped on by people. I hesitated for a long time between publishing it or not. In the end, I chose to let more people hear it and call for more memories of my loved ones." Chen and Jing next worked on "A Cup of Moon" (), together with music engineers He Jiade () and Kaola (), and mixing engineer Liu Junjie (). It was a song originally made for the Qingqin Qingqing () band, hence its length of six minutes. Yin Lin (), a singer Chen invited to participate in the project, persistently suggested shortening the song, but Chen continued with his vision. He also completed the arrangement in one sitting during an eight-hour-long live broadcast. 2019: Being Towards Death After two years of production, Chen digitally released his first original album, Being Towards Death, on April 2, 2019. It includes various works created over ten years and features new recordings of previously released works, such as "Midnight Radio," "Time Tunnel," and "A Cup of Moon." The production of the album was supported through crowdfunding. With an initial goal of 30,000 RMB, the project raised 38,000. Column editor Xiao Xiao (), explaining a bit of the production, said, "Recently, Teacher Chen has really gone all out for his beloved album. He works until one or two in the morning every day, just to optimize and refine every single piece during this last bit of time. He has even re-recorded several songs all over again. So, even for songs that have already been released on NetEase Cloud [Music], there are significant differences in the new album. The editor even starts to wonder if Teacher Chen is a Virgo, given his meticulousness and attention to detail." On the same day, a promotional video was published featuring Chen together with conductor Robert Ziegler and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. On July 15, a music video for the piece "Infinite Cloister of Flowers and Sins" () was published. It is one of the two music videos created to promote Chen's music album FANTASYLAND (). On July 18, a music video for the piece "Circle Dance of the Evernight Castle" () was published. FANTASYLAND released on July 18, 2024. Its album cover was illustrated by Chinese-American artist Yan Wenqing (), known by her handle "Yuumei." Chen Zhiyi Music Concert On October 28, 2024, the "Old Friends, New Voices" Chen Zhiyi Music Concert 2024 was officially announced on Sina Weibo. Co-produced by Shanghai Yinxu Culture Communication Co., Ltd. () and Poly Arts and Entertainment Innovation (), the concert will feature the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra alongside many outstanding musicians. Held from December 14 to 15, 2024, at the Shanghai North Bund AIA Grand Theater (), the event showcased tracks from Chen's FANTASYLAND album, compositions from his past video game soundtracks—including Moonlight Blade, The Legend of Sword and Fairy 7, and Justice—as well as notable singles such as "The Moon in a Cup of Wine" () and "Fu Sheng" (). ==Other works and activities==

Shanghai Conservatory of Music Digital Audio China In October 2009, the eARTS Digital Audio Competition by Digital Audio China officially launched. It was an event organized by the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, the China Association of Recording Engineers (), and Yangpu District government to promote China's development and research in digital audio and related fields. The competition's judging panel included musical engineers Simon Rhodes of Abbey Road Studios, Nick Wollage of AIR Studios, and record producer Quincy Jones, among others. During the semi-finals, Chen placed second in Recording Art and first in the Music Arrangement and Multimedia Soundtrack categories. Shanghai Yinxu Culture Communication Co., Ltd. (), also known as Intree Music, represented him, which Chen heads. At the finals held in March 2010, he won the first prize in the Multimedia Soundtrack category, second prize in Recording Art, and third prize in Music Arrangement. In April 2012, Chen participated as a guest at the second Digital Audio Competition by Digital Audio China. He joined the event with two other first-prize winners from the first competition in 2010, Peng Fei () and Guo Shensheng (). Their commissioned works were performed at the awards gala. After three events of the Digital Audio Competition, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music held the International Digital Music Festival in December 2021. The event was jointly organized by the Shanghai Music and Art Development Collaborative Innovation Center (), game developer company miHoYo, and their music studio HOYO-MiX. It saw the participation of local and foreign digital music industry veterans and university subject leaders. It also included forums and lectures on recording art, film and video game music, etc. Chen participated in the event to gave a lecture on the music production of Genshin Impact, where he shared the process of game music production based on his own experience, including: frame drafting, MIDI arrangement production, score production, orchestral recording, sound mixing and mastering, and soundtrack music naming and illustration design. During the lecture, Chen also shared his experience of cooperating with orchestras and musicians from different countries in the process of music production through a large number of video materials. He talked about the concept of "huayong" () in creation, connecting it to absorption of the essence of Western musical elements and turning them into internal skills of his own music creation. The next International Digital Music Festival took place from October to December 2022. Chen and miHoYo music director Cai Jinhan () joined as game music team judges. School program lecture In July 2016, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music hosted an art summer school program for academic graduate students. The program focused on the theme of music and technology, and with activities covering the research, production, and performance of music. Chen was invited alongside several other teachers and experts in the music industry to give lectures. For his lecture, he discussed his work for Phantom of the Theatre (2016), explaining the music production process of the score. Shanghai Expo 2010 From May to October, Shanghai hosted the Expo 2010. Among the various organized activities was a large-scale parade performed every day. One of its routes was the Puxi Line at Longhua East Road, for which Chen composed the theme song "Good Dream Is a Song" (). Beautiful Sunday clarinet concert On July 24, 2012, Clarinet associate professor Tao Ran () of Shenzhen Arts School hosted a clarinet concert at the Shenzhen Concert Hall. The concert included performances covering classical, romantic, and jazz styles. He also led ten students, including Chen, to perform eight clarinet works in the form of solo and chamber music, including Felix Mendelssohn's "Concert Piece No. 2," André Messager's "Solo de Concours," and Franz Krommer's "Clarinet Concerto No. 1, Op. 36." Chen composed an original piece specially for the concert, "Legend" (), for the piano and clarinet. Tao Ran again hosted the Beautiful Sunday clarinet concert on November 19, 2017, which was sponsored by the Propaganda Department of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee () and the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Culture, Sports and Tourism (). Alongside "Legend," more original works by Chen were performed for the concert: "Mystery" (), "Discovery" (), "Emergency" (), "Truth" (), and "Challenge" (). Wuhan Conservatory of Music On November 13, 2016, Chen carried out a lecture at the Wuhan Conservatory of Music as part of their three-day Applied Electronic Music Forum. The lecture was titled "The Production Process of Film Music: Taking 'Phantom of the Theatre' as an Example" (). The next day, Chen, together with composer and music producer Shen Dan (), carried out a master class on applied electronic music. Qingqin Qingqing band In 2017, Chen founded Qingqin Qingqing (), also called 4Q, a band that focuses on the Zhongguo Feng genre. The band includes a dozen members, each having a different traditional instrument, such as the erhu, dizi, xiao, and guzheng. According to pipa musician Juanmo (), "Qín" () and "Qìng" () refer to music and ancient music, respectively. The third character, "Qìng" (), means relaxed or happy. Together, these characters express a scene where a group of friends who love ancient music get together to play music with ease and joy. In June 2018, the singles "Endless" () and "Twelve Gods" (), both composed by Chen, were released on online music platforms. On July 22, Qingqin Qingqing debuted at Bilibili Macro Link (BML), a concert event held at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai. The event saw more than 4.5 million people from offline and online audiences. Music+Technology Festival 2024 From March to April 2024, Chen was involved as one of the five Artist Ambassadors in the Digital Muse: 2024 Music+Technology Festival (), centered on the fusion of artificial intelligence with musical composition. He participated in the evaluation and selection process of submitted works, providing guidance, recommendations, and support for the music creations featured in this festival, which was hosted by the Cadillac Shanghai Concert Hall. The aim of the event was "supporting musicians to explore the fusion innovation of music and modern technology, promoting the creation and development of digital music works, and providing an international showcase platform for outstanding original music works". 2025 On March 13, 2025, Cadillac Shanghai Concert Hall officially launched the Digital Muse: 2025 Music+Technology Festival and held a press conference to mark the occasion. Chen attended as one of the festival's judges. During the event, he shared insights on how technological advancements have influenced his creative process, sparking new inspirations and perspectives in his compositions. As a key figure in the festival, Chen will help evaluate performances and interactive exhibition works selected through a global call for submissions. The event, running from March to April 2025, will feature performances, exhibitions, creative workshops, and forums, alongside special highlights like the AI Story Tavern, Music & Tech Investment Sharing Session, Outdoor Music & Tech Market, and Music & Light Show. Other stage events On January 1, 2017, Chen participated in the Moonlight Blade Guofeng Carnival theme music exhibition, which was held at the Sun Palace Magic Theater in Nanjing City. From May to June 2017, Chen participated as a judge in the Guofeng Cover Singing Contest () held by DouYu and Tencent. In 2018, Chen participated in the Xuanwuji Guofeng Music Festival (), where he performed the song "Brocade" () with Jiu Quan (). The song was later released as "Brocade Colors" in Chen's 2019 album Being Towards Death, with the female vocals performed by Bu Cai (). ==Signing with Deutsche Grammophon==

In 2025, the renowned label Deutsche Grammophon announced that it had signed Chen. His first release with the label was the album Fantasyland. ==Filmography==

Film Television Animation City promotion ==Discography==

Video games Collaborations Personal works ==Awards and nominations==