Keyed in to Chopin

"I had a good night of dreamless sleep," Chen adds.

"Musicians always have regrets about their recordings. I do, too. I was unworried about having not fully expressed myself, rather than feeling anxious, after recording. Maybe a decade later, I'll record them again."

Unlike many albums featuring the nocturnes that order the songs according to the composer's notes, Chen sequenced them based on her own understanding.

"They connect with one another in their own ways to me. They're dreamlike, mood-filled and very personal," says Chen.

The Chongqing native's mother was a professional dancer, and her father was a French horn player and keyboardist. Chen started to play violin at age 6 and started piano lessons from veteran music educator Dan Zhaoyi at age 9.

Chen achieved fame after winning fourth place as the youngest contestant at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 1996. The following year, she enrolled in the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London with a full scholarship.

In 2000, she took fourth at the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. And a year later, she released her debut album, Chopin Impression. Her second album, Chopin's Complete Waltzes, came out in 2006.

Chen received the Crystal Award at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2005.

She later studied at Hochschule fur Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover in Germany, where she received her PhD in piano performance in 2007.

In 2015, her album Memories Lost, featuring modern Chinese compositions, offered audiences a fresh experience with Chinese musical instruments. BBC Music Magazine described the album as "the most interesting and successful recording of new Chinese music so far".

Since 2016, the pianist has received invitations to serve as a judge for such prestigious competitions as the Leeds International Piano Competition and the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw.