CT, thank you for the splendid Thanksgiving Birthday dinner. Many wonderful things were said about you the man, husband and father.

I believe it was my missed opportunity to honor you as the Maestro.
I have known a half dozen or so composer conductors from orchestras and pits. I have been in the presence of Leonard Bernstein and John Williams but never interacted.
There are some who are generals and the musicians are their foot soldiers, but only the best have your humility and humble imprimatur.
I believe everyone has a spark of genius but there are some like yourself whose genius is more high voltage. There are composer, performer conductors who possess extraordinary talent and there are some who are possessed by it. You seem to be the former.

You are only 70. Composer John Williams is 91 this year and still borrows from Holst. You have kept your feet on the ground while keeping your head in heaven in the East and West. Your remarkable accomplishments and genres of music are to many to mention.
Your grand opera to consecrate the new opera house in Taiwan and your concertos alone, will make you musically immortal. Even how you handled the nuts and bolts of affording performances is powerful, like your visit with George Soros while he picked your brains.

Maestro Chen, I remind you that viewing far horizons are important !
It is always possible that the past can be seen as good practice for what is to come. Be confident that we are not forgetting, and we are anticipating the music that is yearning to be created by you, a masterful servant of art, some of which you say comes from God.
If so, go God go.

Your friend,
Donuel.