The music of YAO Chen strikes audiences with its innovative ways of bringing the musical traditions of East and West together and its poetic telling of the composer's innermost thoughts.   While devoting himself mainly to the field of contemporary art music, YAO also experiments with other genres, writing music for films and theatre productions.  Cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary concepts permeate his creative inspiration and compositional output, presenting his understanding of the value of new music in enlivening global contemporary cultures.  These aesthetic pursuits and values have been realized within his recent representative works, such as Two Poems for chamber orchestra, Jun for Chinese pipa and double bass, the instrumental theatre piece Paramita for large ensemble.  They not only demonstrate his talent in navigating situations covering a wide emotional spectrum and dramaturgical elements in music writing, but also manifest his versatility in structuring musical forms that embrace mixed instruments, musical languages and styles.

In recent years, his music has received a significant amount of recognition in many distinguished international arenas.  His music has been performed by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lorraine, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Pacifica String Quartet, Quatuor Diotima, eighth blackbird, Camerata Woodwind Quintet, Quintet of the Americas,Qilin Duet, New Fromm Players, Conundrum, TianYing Chinese Ensemble, Beijing New Music Ensemble, etc. Yao has collaborated with countless artists, including conductors Cliff Colnot and Rei Hotoda, Chinese pipa-players Yang Wei and Lan WeiWei, Chinese bamboo flutist Zhang Weiliang, Zheng player Yu-Chen Wang, double-bassist DaXun Zhang, sopranos Tony Arnold and Allison Angelo, flutist Denis Bouriakov, pianist Nareh Arghamanyan, and bayan-players Luo Han and Stanislav Venglevski.  He has also received commissions, awards and fellowships from ASCAP, Radio France, Barnett Family Foundation Flute Competition, Leonard Bernstein Fund, Art Institute of Chicago & Silk Road Chicago Project, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, TMSK Liu Tianhua Composition Competition, Greece International Composition Competition, Aspen Music Festival, ECU New Music Orchestra Composition Competition, Chinese Fine Arts Society International Composition Competition, Viacom-Sumner M. Redstone Foundation in China, Central Conservatory of Music, the University of Chicago, etc.

YAO has shared his music with audiences at many music festivals throughout the world, including the Radio France Festival Présences, Tanglewood Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Centre Acanthes Festival, Pacific Music Festival, Moscow International Accordion Competition, First International Tianjin Accordion Festival, U.S. Midwest Graduate Music Consortium, Chicago Contempo Concerts, June In Buffalo Contemporary Festival, Beijing Modern Music Festival, SoundField Music Festival, soundSCAPE Music Festival, ECU New Music Festival, NewnowNorse Music Festival, and W.I.U. New Music Festival. 

YAO embarked on his lifelong musical journey in the People's Republic of China.  He received rigorous training in composition & and music theory at the prestigious Xinghai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou and Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where he worked with the distinguished professors Cao Guangping, Yan Dong, Su Xia, Yao Henglu, and Gao Weijie.  He has received Ph.D in music composition at the University of Chicago under the guidance of world-renowned composers Shulamit Ran and Marta Ptaszynska.  He has lectured at the University of Chicago and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Music.  He holds Honorary Associateship from The National Academy of Music.  (YAO is his surname, and Chen is his first name) 

姚晨的音乐语言根植于东方和西方的音乐传统，同时充分运用了当代作曲技法的开放性融合了二者。跨文化概念与实践深深渗透在他的创作之中，体现了他对新音乐创作在世界当代文化发展中的观点和态度。他的许多作品都集中体现了跨文化审美，比如他的乐队作品《诗两首》，器乐剧场《彼岸》，二重奏《骏》《思凡》等。这些作品展示了他在表现音乐戏剧性，混合中西音乐材料风格的创作才能。 对电影和试验剧场的涉猎也有效地拓宽了他的音乐种类和风格。

作为一个活跃的青年作曲家，姚晨已经和许多的中美音乐家合作过，这包括琵琶演奏家兰薇薇，古筝演奏家王于真，手风琴演奏家罗汉，笛子演奏家张维良，美国马友友丝绸之路乐团（Silk road Ensemble）的倍大提琴独奏家张达寻，琵琶演奏家杨惟, 美籍俄罗斯手风琴演奏家 Stanislav Venglevski,  美籍日本指挥家钢琴家Rei Hotoda, 等等。他的作品也被许多重要的大型演奏团体演奏过，这包括中国天音民族室内乐团，美国Saint Paul 室内交响乐团，美国St Luke's 交响乐团，法国Lorraine国家交响乐团, 加拿大Winnipeg交响乐团，美国Pacifica弦乐四重奏团，法国Diotima Quatuor弦乐四重奏团, 美国eighth blackbird六重奏团，美国New Fromm Players重奏组，伊利诺伊大学新音乐团，以及美国Camerata 和 Quintet of the Americas 木管五重奏团。

他的音乐也常出现在许多重要的音乐节上，比如，美国Tanglewood音乐节， 美国Aspen音乐节，日本太平洋国际音乐节，首届中国天津国际手风琴艺术节，法国Centre Acanthes当代音乐节，2000莫斯科国际手风琴大赛，2002法国巴黎Festival Presences，北京现代音乐节，美国中西部Graduate Music Consortium，美国Contempo 音乐会系列，芝加哥SoundField 音乐节，意大利 soundSCAPE 音乐节，西伊利诺伊大学现代音乐节，东卡罗莱纳大学新音乐节，北肯塔基大学NewNowNorse 音乐节和美国June In Buffalo当代音乐节，等等. 姚晨也从许多国际音乐组织接受过许多荣誉，奖项，和委约，这包括法国国家广播电台，纽约WQXR电台，美国匹兹堡交响乐团，美国Orpheus室内交响乐团的440委约项目，芝加哥艺术学院&丝绸之路项目，美国Barnett 家族基金会音乐比赛，美国Aspen音乐节，美国中华才艺协会国际作曲比赛，加拿大Winnipeg交响乐团，希腊国际作曲比赛，中国TMSK刘天华中国民乐作曲比赛，和美国东卡罗莱纳大学交响乐队作曲比赛。另外，他也担任过美国Salvatore Martirano 国际作曲比赛的评委。

出生于中国广东，曾在广州星海音乐学院附中和中央音乐学院接受严格的作曲学习。 他在美国芝加哥大学取得作曲博士学位，曾在芝加哥大学和伊利诺伊大学香槟分校任客席教授。