Biography
Multi-award-winning composer, pianist and producer Yu-Peng Chen (also known as Chen Zhiyi) is globally famous for his richly melodic and stylistically versatile scores for the film and gaming worlds. His immersive soundtracks for the open-world role-playing game Genshin Impact have won particular acclaim, and have led millions of fans to revere him as “Archon” (“master”). Bridging the gap between classical genres and the gaming universe, his music has so far appeared in 1m+ TikTok posts and amassed 126m+ official YouTube views and 1.5bn+ streams.
A graduate of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Chen is known for skilfully combining Western orchestral music with the traditional folk music of China, Japan, India and beyond. His unique and vibrant scores reveal his ability to create everything from the subtlest emotional nuance to the most sweeping of symphonic narratives.
In recent months he has added to his many awards and accolades, winning first prize in the chamber music composition section of the 2025 4Seasons Vienna International Musician Competition; a 2025 World Artistry Music Award for Film/Game Music (for music from Justice); and a Platinum Prize in the Composition Category of the Global Genius Music Awards.
In July 2025, Yu-Peng Chen signed an exclusive agreement with Deutsche Grammophon, becoming the first Chinese composer ever to join the label. Their relationship will begin with the release of a deluxe edition of his album FANTASYLAND, an orchestral suite of 11 pieces which reflects Chen’s signature fusion of eastern and western musical influences.
The composer, who also plays solo piano on the album, recorded FANTASYLAND at London’s Abbey Road Studios with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Robert Ziegler. Released digitally in July 2024, it was a huge hit with his fans, especially in China, where the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra showcased its music in two sell-out concerts dedicated to Chen’s work (Shanghai, December 2024).
The deluxe edition of FANTASYLAND, which includes four bonus tracks, will be released in all formats on 7 November 2025. Chen’s next DG recording, an album of brand-new orchestral music, is scheduled for release in 2026.
Yu-Peng Chen was born in China’s Hunan province in 1984. He discovered the power of music at an early age on hearing Joe Hisaishi’s score for Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind – Hisaishi’s music had an important influence on him, as did that of composers such as John Williams and Rachmaninoff.
Chen learned clarinet and piano as a child, studying at the Shenzhen Arts School and then at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where he switched to composition, later graduating in Music Design and Production. Having learned from mentors such as An Dong and Shinji Tanimura, the latter through a masterclass hosted by the Conservatory, he developed a very personal style which combines traditional instruments and a wide range of musical elements from eastern cultures with western harmonies and orchestral writing.
After his studies, Chen quickly established a successful career writing soundtracks for TV, film and video games – he founded his own studio, Yinxu Culture, in 2009. Working in collaboration with An Dong, Chan Kwong-wing and others, he created a series of acclaimed film scores. He was nominated for Best Original Film Score for The Last Tycoon at the 2013 Hong Kong Film Awards, and won the 2018 Golden Deer Award for the soundtrack for Andrew Lau’s The Founding of an Army (he was also nominated that year for The Taste of Apple). At around the same time, a concert work, The Curse of Blood, earned him a nomination for the SABAM Award for Best Original Composition by a Young Composer at the 2019 World Soundtrack Awards.
In parallel with his film work, Chen was writing much-loved tracks for games such as Moonlight Blade. He acquired worldwide fame, however, when he joined HOYO-MiX, the in-house studio of video game developer miHoYo, as composer and music producer for Genshin Impact. Writing scores for areas of the game inspired by different cultures, he took western orchestral music as his basis, adding rich seams of “local colour” through skilful use of different styles and instrumentation – from Renaissance lutes and polyphony to Middle Eastern harmonies on ney and duduk, or the pentatonic scale and ancient tonal melodies of Chinese music.
Genshin Impact albums and concerts have proved hugely popular, with one live concert recording being streamed six million times within three days of its release. Several of Chen’s scores for the game have earned awards, and in 2020, he won the Outstanding Artist – Newcomer/Breakthrough category at the Annual Game Music Awards. The global success of the game also led to collaborations with world-class ensembles including the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Now working as an independent composer, Chen is still writing and producing music for hit games such as Justice and Where Winds Meet, etc., but his primary focus is on composing large-scale orchestral works. His aim, he says, is “to continue crafting original works that resonate deeply with listeners – music that speaks without words, yet says so much”.
7/2025