A native of Taiwan, Dr. Joyce Wei-Jo Chen 陳瑋若 is Assistant Professor of Historical Keyboards at the University of Oregon. She is also a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Music (Historical Musicology) and the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program in Humanities at Princeton University. Under the guidance of Wendy Heller, Joyce is currently working on her dissertation, “Musica Experientia/Experimentum: Acoustics and Artisanal Knowledge in the Global Seventeenth Century,” which explores the intersection between science, music, and aesthetics involving instrument-making, sensory experience, and the development of acoustical theory. For this project, Joyce spent 4 months working as an apprentice at Zuckermann Harpsichords International—the last harpsichord manufacturing factory in the United States— in Stonington, Connecticut. In addition, she just finished building her first harpsichord from a Troubadour Virginal Kit.
As a solo harpsichordist, Joyce has performed throughout the United States, France, Belgium, and Taiwan. Joyce received the 2018 Individual Artist Fellowship from the Delaware Division of the Arts and was a featured soloist in the 2019 Emerging Artist Showcase by Early Music America. Joyce is releasing her first solo harpsichord album featuring English virginalist music in 2024/2025. Joyce holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Harpsichord Performance from Stony Brook University and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley.
Outside academia, Joyce is a dedicated church musician with over 12 years of experience. As an organist specializing in the baroque repertoire, Joyce recently received the Colleague certification from the American Guild of Organists.