Ian Chen is a Taiwanese-Canadian composer based in Los Angeles. His recent notable works include Taiwanese period drama Trade War (2024) and Netflix series Futmalls (2020). He is the recipient of BEST SCORE AWARD at the 18th Independent Music Awards, and a finalist for the MUSIC OF THE YEAR award at the Game Audio Networks Guild Awards held at GDC 2020. Ian’s involvement extends beyond composition, as he lends his orchestration and score engineering skills to studio productions, including Disney’s Hocus Pocus 2 (2022), Blumhouse Productions’s Five Nights At Freddy’s (2023), and the forthcoming The Garfield Movie (2024) from Columbia Pictures.
Ian studied classical and modern orchestral composition at Cornell University under the late Prof. Steven Stucky,, and furthered his education at NYU Steinhardt’s film music graduate program. His musical signature combines electronics, classical orchestration, and contemporary sampling techniques. Proficient across a diverse range of musical instruments from various cultural backgrounds, Ian's emphasis on texture and color enables him to craft unique soundscapes tailored to each project, whether for solo endeavors or the grandeur of the silver screen.
Beyond the realm of film, Ian is a versatile artist involved in live theatre composition and serves as a prolific orchestra conductor and performer. In 2009, he founded the first traditional Chinese music ensemble in upstate New York. His expertise garnered recognition, leading to an invitation in 2012 by the New Jersey Buddha’s Light Youth Chinese Orchestra to arrange and conduct music for their 10th-anniversary concert. In 2013, a collaboration with contemporary dancers Dai Jian and Elena Demyanenko from the renowned Trisha Brown Dance Company resulted in the creation of the acclaimed theatrical piece Blue Room commissioned by New York Live Arts and praised by The New York Times.
