Chen Jiafeng

Jiafeng Chen
Birth name	Chen Jiafeng
Born	(1987-04-13) April 13, 1987 Shanghai, China
Genres	Classical
Occupation	musician
Instrument	Violin
Website	http://jiafengchen.com/

Chen Jiafeng (born April 13, 1987) (Chinese: 陈佳峰), born in Shanghai, is a Chinese violinist. He started to play the violin at the age of 3 and gave his first concert at 8.

Biography

Violinist Jiafeng Chen was hailed in the English press who is “not only technically brilliant but also subtle, deeply felt and astonishingly mature” (Nottingham Evening Post). He has been heard as a soloist with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Opera National de Nancy, Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, Philharmonia Orchestra (U.K.) amongst others. He has collaborated with violinists David Chan and Cho-Liang Lin; cellist Gary Hoffman; and conductors Paavo Berglund, Paul Goodwin, Lorin Maazel, Paolo Olmi, Petri Sakari, John Storgårds and Gilbert Varga. He has performed at BBC Proms in UK, Verbier Festival in Switzerland, Valdres Sommersymfoni in Norway and La Jolla Music Society SummerFest in USA.

Jiafeng Chen is a top prize winner of several major violin competitions including the International Competition for Young Violinists K. Lipinski and H. Wieniawski in Lublin, International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in Helsinki in Helsinki, the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists in Cardiff and the Windsor International String Competition in Windsor, U.K.. Chen is also a Laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition. Further more, he was awarded the Paganini Prize at the Indianapolis International Violin Competition, and the Silver Medal from the centuries-old Worshipful Company of Musicians in UK for his contribution in artistry to the Royal College of Music when he was a student there.

Born in Shanghai where Chen studied with Peter Shixiang Zhang, Jiyang Zhao and Lei Fang. He attended the Primary and Middle Schools Affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the Chetham's School of Music in UK and holds a Bachelor of Music (Hons) Degree from the Royal College of Music in London where he studied with Jan Repko and a Master of Music Degree from The Juilliard School in New York City where he studied with Cho-Liang Lin and Ronald Copes. He has also worked with Pierre Amoyal, Ana Chumachenko, Bernard Greenhouse, Boris Kurshnir, Itzhak Perlman, Vadim Repin and Ruggiero Ricci.

Chen’s artistry has also supported humanitarian causes, including the “East meets West” event organized by the British Red Cross. In 2008, he organized seven recitals in the UK and Italy where raised over £4800 to give scholarships to students from Sichuan studying in Shanghai after the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan, China. He has also donated his services for fundraisers on behalf of English National Opera, Dance Umbrella International Festival and Royal College of Music Annual Fundraising events.

Chen is a member of faculty at the Chetham’s School of Muic and the Birmingham Conservatoire. He also works at the Royal College of Music as a Violin Teaching Assistant. He plays a Nicolo Gagliano violin (Naples, 1751) kindly on loan from a generous group of owners.

Prizes

• 1995 2nd prize, Shanghai "Yi-Fu" Cup (Chinese: 逸夫杯) Violin Competition
• 2001 2nd prize, 7th National Youth Violin competition, China.
• 2003 1st prize, 9th International Wieniawski Violin Competition with further prizes from the European Union Music Competition and the Frederic Chopin Academy of Music, Poland.
• 2004 3rd prize, 4th International Novosibirsk Youth Violin Competition, Russia.
• 2004 Manoug Parikian Award, Musicians Benevolent Fund String Award 2004, United Kingdom.
• 2005 Runner-up & the Most Promising under 18 Quartet, National Youth String Quartet Competition, United Kingdom.
• 2005 Winner, Concerto Competition at Chetham's School of Music, Manchester, U.K.
• 2005 2nd prize, 9th International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition, Finland.
• 2006 Education Award, Musicians Benevolent Fund String Award 2006, United Kingdom.
• 2008 2nd Prize, 13th Menuhin International Violin Competition for Youth, Cardiff, United Kingdom.
• 2008 Winner, Concerto Competition, Royal College of Music, London, U.K.
• 2009 Laureate, Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition, Brussels, Belgium
• 2010 3rd Prize for the Performance of Caprices by N. Paganini, Indianapolis International Violin Competition, Indianapolis, USA
• 2010 Worshipful Company of Musicians Silver Medal
• 2010 Winner, Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Scholarship
• 2011 2nd Prize, The 3rd Windsor International String Competition, Windsor Castle, U.K.

Festivals and concerts

Chen has participated in numerous music festivals including the BBC Proms cycle of 2006 as a soloist when his recital was broadcast on BBC radio 3; the Lake District Music Festival, and the Shanghai ‘Spring’ International Music Festival. Chen has had numerous concerts throughout the world. He has performed as soloist with numerous orchestras and conductors, including the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Opera Symphony Orchestra, Halle Orchestra (Rory Macdonald), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Petri Sakari), Tapiola Sinfonietta (Paavo Berglund), the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (John Storgards) and the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Lorin Maazel.

External links

• Jiafeng Chen's website