Since the pandemic started, CPC has led a recovery platform for Asian American neighborhoods, spoken out against the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes, advocated for hazard pay and PPE for essential workers in the human services sector, distributed over $1.25 million and nearly 100,000 meals to community members, and been quoted in over 150 news stories.

With a mission to promote the social and economic empowerment of Chinese American, immigrant, and low-income communities, CPC serves over 60,000 community members in the areas of education, family support, and community and economic empowerment at 35 locations throughout New York City. Wayne Ho is the President and CEO of the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC), the nation’s largest Asian American social services agency. In 2015 she earned a Masters in Jazz Performance from Queens College, studying with Charenée Wade, Antonio Hart, David Berkman, and Michael Philip Mossman. The album is a follow-up to 2014’s Pisces the Dreamer, which a features a deft traversal of Chinese, Middle-Eastern, Eastern European, and Afro-American musical landscapes.Ĭhen studied classical piano beginning at age four at China’s Central Conservatory of Music, graduating in 2008. Her 2018 octet recording Secret Treetop was praised by Downbeat as “ clear-eyed fusion of East and West with an avant-garde twist,” and was nominated for a CMIC Best Vocal Jazz Album award in China, analogous to a Grammy in the U.S. In China, she has performed at festivals including Shanghai International Jazz Festival and Beijing Nine-Gates Jazz Festival, as well as venues such as Blue Note Beijing, Guangzhou Xinghai Concert Hall, JZ Shanghai, and JZ Hangzhou, where she has been featured as artist-in-residence in 2015, 2016, and 2018. Cafe, Flushing Town Hall, and Club Bonafide. As a bandleader, Chen has performed extensively in prestigious New York City venues including the Blue Note, Cornelia St. Her distinctive style draws on a rich continuum of musical traditions from Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Annie Chen is a vocalist, composer, and bandleader from Beijing, based in New York since 2013.

Chinatown interior