Ray Chen

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For other people named Ray Chen, see Ray Chen (disambiguation).

Ray Chen
陳銳
Chen performing in 2018
Chen performing in 2018
Background information
Born (1989-03-06) 6 March 1989 (age 35)[1]
Taipei, Taiwan
GenresClassical
Occupation(s)Musician
Instrument(s)Violin
Years active1997–present
Websiteraychenviolin.com
Ray Chen
Traditional Chinese陳銳
Simplified Chinese陈锐

Ray Chen (born 6 March 1989) is a Taiwanese-Australian violinist. He was the first prize winner of the 2009 Queen Elisabeth Competition and the 2008 International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition

Career

Born in Taipei, Taiwan; Chen began learning violin at the age of four. Within five years he completed all 10 levels of the Suzuki Music Education (Suzuki method) in Brisbane, Australia. Chen was invited to play solo with the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of eight. He was also invited to perform at the opening celebration concert of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.[2]

Chen was chosen as Australia's 4MBS's "Young Space Musician of the Year" in 1999. He was awarded the Sydney May Memorial Scholarship of the Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB) for being the youngest and most talented musician. Chen was awarded his Licentiate Diploma of Music with distinction by the AMEB at age 11. At age 13, he won first prize in the Australian National Youth Concerto Competition (NYCC), and in 2005 won first prize in the 2005 Australia National Kendall Violin Competition.[3][failed verification] Professor Goetz Richter, chair of the String Unit at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music has described Chen as "one of the most talented and accomplished young violinists to have emerged from Australia."[4][failed verification][citation needed] His violin teachers have included Kerry Smith and Professor Peter Zhang (Sydney Conservatorium). Chen graduated with a bachelor of music degree in violin performance under Aaron Rosand at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

In the summers of 2006 and 2007, Chen attended the Encore School for Strings, studying under David Cerone at the Cleveland Institute of Music. In 2008 he attended the Aspen Music Festival on a full tuition fellowship, studying with Cho-Liang Lin (Juilliard School) and Paul Kantor (Cleveland Institute of Music).

In April 2008 Chen won the senior division first prize of the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists in Cardiff, Wales. (In 2004 he had won jointly the third prize of the junior division in that competition.[5]) Chen then came to the attention of Maxim Vengerov, who served on the competition jury, and was engaged for performances including debuts with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra in Saint Petersburg[6]and at the International Rostropovich Festival with the Azerbaijan State Symphony Orchestra in Baku, under the baton of Vengerov.[7]

Following his success at the Menuhin Competition, Chen won the first prize of the 2009 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, Belgium, bringing him numerous concert engagements, a recording, and a three-year loan of the "Huggins" Stradivarius from the Nippon Music Foundation. He was the competition's youngest participant. As Grand Prize winner, he was immediately launched on a concert tour, performing with the Royal Flemish Philharmonic (DeFilharmonie) under Jaap van Zweden and Aldert Vermeulen, the National Orchestra of Belgium under Rumon Gamba, and the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra under Emmanuel Krivine, as well as in recitals throughout Belgium.[8]

Chen was signed by Sony Classical in 2010.[9] He has recorded the César Franck Violin Sonata, the violin concertos of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Felix Mendelssohn, and more.

Chen won the Newcomer Award in the 2011 Echo Klassik Awards.[10] He was invited to perform at the annual Nobel Prize Concert in 2012, playing Max Bruch's Violin Concerto in G minor with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.[11]

In April 2016, he was the youngest juror ever of the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists in London, with Pamela Frank, Joji Hattori, Martin Engstroem, Ning Feng, Julia Fischer, Dong-Suk Kang, Tasmin Little and Jeremy Menuhin.[12]

He was signed by Decca Classics in 2017.[13]

In November 2020, he led the performance to open the Golden Horse Awards ceremony.[14]

After the short-term loan of "Huggins", he was lent the 1715 "Joachim" Stradivarius from the Nippon Music Foundation until 2019. As of October 2019, he is the recipient of the 1735 "Samazeuilh" Stradivarius loaned by the Nippon Music Foundation.[15]

On 12th September 2022, he announced that he had received the 1714 “Dolphin” Stradivarius, which was loaned by the Nippon Music Foundation for a year. This Stradivarius was played by the legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz.

Non-classical collaborations

On November 20, 2021, Sting's single "What Could Have Been", featuring Chen, was in the third act of the League of Legends animated series Arcane; this single was released the same day.[16][17] They then opened The Game Awards 2021 with the song.[18][19]

In 2022 Ray was one of the collaborators on Jay Chou's song and video, "Greatest Works of Art," which went to number one in China, racking up over 500 million views on Weibo and other Chinese streaming services within 48 hours of release.[20]

Entrepreneurship

Chen is frequently noted for his online presence, being one of the first classical musicians of his stature to embrace social media.[21][22] He began making funny videos on his Facebook page in 2014,[23] and soon began creating humorous content for his eponymous YouTube channel pertaining to violin playing, classical music, and being Ray Chen. The YouTube classical music comedy duo TwoSetViolin cite Chen as an influence in their decision to start doing comedy on their channel and Chen has guested on their channel numerous times.[24] Chen continues to create content for Instagram and other social media platforms, and hosts a Discord community, as well.

In 2021 Chen launched an app with developer Rose Xi under the title Pocket Conservatory. Conceived as a community-building and practice motivation app for musicians, Pocket attracted 3,500 users immediately (with another 4,000 on the waitlist) in 117 countries.[25] In 2022 Pocket rebranded as Tonic and continued to add users in preparation for a wider launch.[26]

Chen has also designed a violin case for Gewa,[27] is in a multi-year marketing partnership with clothing design house Armani, and wrote a blog for Vogue Italia.[28]

Discography

Albums

List of albums, with selected details
Title Details
Stravinsky: Diversions - Music for Violin & Piano
(with Timothy Young)
  • Released: 2010
  • Format: CD
  • Label: Melba Recordings (MR 301128)
Virtuoso
  • Released: 2011
  • Format: CD
  • Label: Sony Classical (88697723202)
Violin Concertos
(with Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra & Daniel Harding)
  • Released: 2012
  • Format: CD
  • Label: Sony Classical (886978941022)
Violin Concertos K 216 & 218 / Sonata K 305
(with Christoph Eschenbach & Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival Orchestra)
  • Released: January 2014
  • Format: CD
  • Label: Sony Classical (88765447752)
Violinkonzerte
(with Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra & Daniel Harding)
  • Released: 2014
  • Format: CD
  • Label: Sony Classical (88875020122)
Ravel: Complete Orchestral Works
(with Yuja Wang, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich & Lionel Bringuier)
  • Released: 2016
  • Format: CD
  • Label: Deutsche Grammophon (479 5524 GH4)
The Golden Age
  • Released: 2018
  • Format: CD
  • Label: Decca (483 3852)
The Song of Names (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
(with Howard Shore)
  • Released: 2019
  • Format: CD
  • Label: Decca (485 0236)
Solace
  • Released: August 7, 2020
  • Format: Digital
  • Label: Decca (00028948511372)

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards are presented annually from 1987 by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).

Year Nominee / work Award Result Ref.
2018 The Golden Age Best Classical Album Nominated [29]

Forbes 30 Under 30

2017 Forbes 30 Under 30[30]

See also

References

  1. ^ Channel, The Violin (6 March 2020). "Today is Australian VC Artist Ray Chen's 31st Birthday! [ON-THIS-DAY]". The World's Leading Classical Music News Source. Est 2009. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  2. ^ "Ray Chen". Tatler Asia. Edipresse Media Asia. 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ "Australia National Kendall Violin Competition". Archived from the original on 20 April 2008.
  4. ^ The Kendall National Violin Competition for young Australian violinists
  5. ^ Laureates Archive – Prizewinners since 1983, Menuhin Competition
  6. ^ "Orchestra - Mariinsky Ballet and Opera Theatre, Saint Petersburg, Russia". www.mariinsky-theatre.com. Retrieved 17 November 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ "На VIII Международном фестивале Мстислава Ростроповича выступил Максим Венгеров (in Russian". ClassicalMusicNews.Ru (in Russian). 4 April 2017. Retrieved 17 November 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ "Ray Chen wins Queen Elisabeth Competition". Flanders News. VRT NEWS. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  9. ^ "New Sony signing: Ray Chen". Gramophone. 29 March 2010. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
  10. ^ "Artist Biography" (PDF). Echo Klassik.
  11. ^ "Ray Chen plays Bruch Violin Concerto 1st Mvt at Nobel Prize Concert in 2012". YouTube.com. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  12. ^ 2016 Jury, Menuhin Competition
  13. ^ "Ray Chen Signs with Decca Classics". VIOLINIST.COM. 12 January 2017. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  14. ^ "2020 GOLDEN HORSE/The 2020 Golden Horse Awards". Focus Taiwan. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  15. ^ "Recipients of Instruments". Nippon Music Foundation (in Japanese). Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  16. ^ Esguerra, Tyler (26 October 2021). "Riot's Arcane soundtrack features Imagine Dragons, Sting, Denzel Curry, Pusha T, Bea Miller, and more". Dot Esports. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  17. ^ "Arcane: League of Legends - Every Song, Ranked". ScreenRant. 3 February 2022. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  18. ^ "The DeanBeat: The Game Awards and the game industry are back". VentureBeat. 10 December 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  19. ^ THE GAME AWARDS 2021: Sting Performs “What Could Have Been” from Netflix's “Arcane” (YouTube). The Game Awards. 9 December 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
  20. ^ "Superstar Jay Chou breaks records with new music".
  21. ^ "Ray Chen, The Armani-Sponsored Virtuoso Who is a Social Media Star".
  22. ^ "Meet the Violinist... Who's Also Created an App and Viral Video". Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  23. ^ The daily Ray Chen wake up ritual #mornings #birthdayboy #pisces (Facebook). 9 March 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  24. ^ "10 ways the 2010s changed classical music forever". Classic FM. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  25. ^ "Meet the Violinist... Who's Also Created an App and Viral Video". Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  26. ^ "The contest between harmony and re-invention". Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  27. ^ "GEWA Music".
  28. ^ "How to Cope with Insecurity as An Artist Thanks to Ray Chen's IGTV Series".
  29. ^ ARIA Award previous winners. "ARIA Awards – Winners by Award". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  30. ^ "Forbes 30 Under 30". Forbes. Retrieved 12 July 2022.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ray_Chen&oldid=1122336151"