REVIEW: Belle Chen's Gig
Review Date: 23rd May @ Southbannk Centre, Purcell Room
REVIEWS
Kassy Fang
5/27/20261 min read
©️Photo by Matthew Johnson
Belle Chen brought her Ravel In The Forest tour to Southbank Centre with a performance that transformed the venue into an immersive and deeply personal sonic landscape. The programme interwove contemporary classical writing, improvisation and electronic experimentation, drawing the audience into an atmosphere shaped by memory, imagination and nature.
Born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, before later moving to Australia, Belle Chen drew heavily on personal memories of nature and the emotional comfort it provided throughout different stages of her life. That connection became central to the atmosphere of the concert, where forests appeared not simply as picturesque settings, but as spaces connected to reflection, well-being, memory and emotional release.
This autobiographical thread emerged strongly in pieces such as My Deers and Whispering Tree, both of which unfolded with a dreamlike and meditative quality while still carrying moments of tension and vulnerability. Rather than presenting nature as purely idyllic, Belle Chen explored it as something emotionally layered and psychologically complex.
Her combination of piano and synthesiser brought vivid imagery to the programme. In Three Birds, fluttering piano figures and playful electronic textures suggested birds darting and circling through dense forest space. By contrast, The Dragonfly highlighted Belle Chen’s technical precision, with rapid passages sweeping across the keyboard from the highest registers to resonant bass lines below. Powerful climaxes dissolved abruptly into silence, leaving echoes suspended in the hall.
The evening also benefited from Belle Chen’s improvisational instinct and relaxed rapport with the audience. Her responsiveness to the atmosphere in the room introduced spontaneity and humour, giving the concert a natural sense of flow that kept the audience fully engaged throughout.
Performed to a full house at the Southbank Centre, this London concert confirmed Belle Chen as an artist with a clear and increasingly distinctive musical identity. The performance balanced technical assurance with emotional openness, leaving a strong impression of an artist committed to empowering quietness and emotional vulnerability through a subtly radical musical voice.
★★★★
For more information, please visit: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/belle-chen/#venue
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