Chai Nien Chin is a composer based in Malaysia whose work explores subtleties of perception, memory, words, and fragility in association with the physicality of sound. She also draws from the everyday aural world, uncovering music within field recordings and overlooked noises. Close collaborations with musicians, dancers and artists often lie at the heart of her compositional process.

Her work has been performed at venues and festivals including the Dartington Music Summer School and Festival, JAM on the Marsh Festival, Leeds Song Festival, Blackheath Halls, and the Queen’s House, by performers including Bei Bei Wang, Thomas Kelly, Sarah Nicolls, Carl Raven, the Rosalie Ensemble, TL Contemporary Music Group, the 63 Strings, and emerging Malaysian musicians Ian Lim and Sophia Lim. Her works has also been recorded by the Riot Ensemble, Trinity Laban Symphony Orchestra, musicians from the London Sinfonietta and the Fidelio Trio. Her recent cross-disciplinary project Unfamiliar Reflections connected collaborators from Trinity Laban, the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, and the University of Melbourne. In November 2025, her new work will be premiered by the United Instruments of Lucilin at the Rainy Days Festival in Luxembourg.

Born in Miri, Malaysia, she trained as a classical pianist before turning to composition in 2021 following a diagnosis of focal hand dystonia. She later graduated with a first-class BMus (Hons) degree from the Royal College of Music in 2023 and has recently completed her postgraduate studies at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, generously supported by the GREAT Scholarship and the Trinity College London Scholarship.

Her current practice extends beyond composition into collaborative and curatorial cross-disciplinary projects.