Ray Chen(Chinese:Trần duệ;pinyin:Chén Ruì;born 6 March 1989) is aTaiwanese-Australianviolinist.He was the winner of the2008 International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competitionand the2009 Queen Elisabeth Competition.[2]Since then, he has regularly collaborated with the world’s foremost orchestras and appeared at renowned concert halls.[3]
Ray Chen Trần duệ | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Chen performing at theSydney Opera Housein 2022 | |||||||
| Background information | |||||||
| Born | 6 March 1989[1] Taipei,Taiwan | ||||||
| Genres | Classical | ||||||
| Occupation | Musician | ||||||
| Instrument | Violin | ||||||
| Years active | 1997–present | ||||||
| Labels | |||||||
| Website | raychenviolin.com | ||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | Trần duệ | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | Trần duệ | ||||||
| |||||||
Early life and education
editBorn inTaipei,Taiwan,Chen began learning the violin at the age of four. Within five years he completed all 10 levels of theSuzuki violin methodinBrisbane,where he grew up. At the age of eight, Chen performed as a soloist with theQueensland Philharmonic Orchestra.He was also invited to perform at the opening celebration concert of the1998 Winter OlympicsinNagano,Japan.[4]Early on, his violin teachers included Kerry Smith and Peter Zhang.[5]
In 1999, Chen was chosen as the4MBS’sYoung Space Musician of the Year inBrisbane.He also received theAustralian Music Examinations Board’sSydney May Memorial Scholarship and was awarded hisLicentiate Diploma of Musicwith distinction at age eleven. In 2002, he won the Australian National Youth Concerto Competition and in 2005, the Kendall National Violin Competition.[6]In 2004, he received the Third Prize at the junior division of theYehudi Menuhin International Competition.
In 2010, Chen graduated from theCurtis Institute of MusicinPhiladelphiawith aBachelor of Music,where he studied withAaron Rosand.[7]He also undertook summer studies at theEncore School for StringswithDavid CeroneandRobert Lipsett,and at theAspen Music FestivalwithCho-Liang LinandPaul Kantoron a full tuition fellowship.[8]
Career
editIn 2008, Chen won the First Prize in the senior division of theYehudi Menuhin International CompetitioninCardiff,Wales.[9]At the competition, he came to the attention of jury memberMaxim Vengerov,who engaged him for debuts with theMariinsky Theatre Orchestra[10]and theAzerbaijan State Symphony Orchestraat the International Rostropovich Festival inBaku.[11]Following this, he won the 2008/09Young Concert Artists International AuditionsinNew Yorkand was subsequently loaned the 1721MacmillanStradivarius.[12]
In 2009, Chen won the First Prize at theQueen Elisabeth CompetitioninBrussels,where he was the youngest participant. Following the competition, he immediately embarked on a concert tour, performing with theAntwerp Symphony OrchestraunderJaap van Zweden,theNational Orchestra of BelgiumunderRumon Gamba,and theOrchestre Philharmonique du LuxembourgunderEmmanuel Krivine,as well as in recitals throughout Belgium.[13]He was also given a three-year loan of the 1708HugginsStradivariusfrom theNippon Music Foundation.
In 2010, Chen was signed bySony Classical.[14]His first album with the label,Virtuoso,won him the Newcomer Award at the2011 Echo Klassik Awards.[15]
In 2012, Chen was invited to perform at the annualNobel PrizeConcert, playingMax Bruch’s Violin Concerto in G minorwith theRoyal Stockholm Philharmonic OrchestraandChristoph Eschenbach.[16]
OnBastille Dayin 2015, Chen performed live for an audience of 800,000 people atChamp de Mars.He was accompanied by theOrchestre National de FranceandDaniele Gatti.[17]
In 2016, Chen founded the Made in Berlinstring quartetalong with three string players from theBerlin Philharmonic,Noah Bendix-Balgley,Amihai Grosz,and Stephan Koncz.[18]In April of that year, Chen was the youngest juror ever of theMenuhin Competition.[19]
In January 2017, Chen was signed byDecca Classics.[20]His first album with the label,The Golden Age,was nominated for anARIA Music AwardforBest Classical Album.
In the 2017/18 season, Chen was an “Artist Focus” for theBerlin Radio Symphony Orchestra.[21]In 2018, he appeared on an episode ofAmazon Prime’stelevision series,Mozart in the Jungle.[22]
In November 2020, Chen opened theGolden Horse Awardsceremony.[23]
Instruments
editFollowing short-term loans of both theMacmillanandHugginsStradivarius violins, Chen was the recipient of the 1715JoachimStradivarius from theNippon Music Foundation.[24]From 2019 to 2022, he played on the 1735SamazeuilhStradivarius from Nippon.[25]
On 12 September 2022, Chen announced that he had received the 1714Dolphin Stradivarius,which was loaned by the Nippon Music Foundation for a year. The violin was formerly played byJascha Heifetz.
Non-classical collaborations
editOn November 20, 2021,Sting’ssong "What Could Have Been", featuring Chen, was featured in the third act of theLeague of Legendsanimated seriesArcane;the single was released the same day.[26][27]BothStingand Chen openedThe Game Awards 2021with the song.[28][29]
In 2022, Ray was one of the collaborators onJay Chou'ssong and video, "Greatest Works of Art," which rose to number one in China and garnered over 500 million views onWeiboand other Chinese streaming services within 48 hours of release.[30]
Other ventures
editChen is frequently noted for his online presence, being one of the first classical musicians of his stature to embrace social media.[31][32]He began making comedy videos on hisFacebookpage in 2014,[33]and soon began creating humorous content for hisYouTubechannel relating to violin playing and classical music. The YouTube classical music comedy duoTwoSetViolincite Chen as an influence in their decision to start doing comedy on their channel and Chen has appeared on their channel numerous times.[34]He continues to create content forInstagramand other social media platforms, and hosts both aDiscord[35]andRedditcommunity as well.
An ambassador forSony Electronics,Chen is a music consultant atRiot Gamesand is in a multi-year marketing partnership with the Italian fashion house,Armani.[36]He has also been featured inVogue Magazine,written a blog forRCS Rizzoli,and designed a violin case for Gewa.[37][38]
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.[32]In 2022, Pocket rebranded as Tonic and continued to add users in preparation for a wider launch.[39]
Discography
editAlbums
edit| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Stravinsky: Diversions - Music for Violin & Piano |
|
| Virtuoso |
|
| Tchaikovsky & Mendelssohn: Violin Concertos (withDaniel Hardingand theSwedish Radio Symphony Orchestra) |
|
| Mozart: Violin Concertos & Sonata (withChristoph Eschenbachand theSchleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra) |
|
| Ravel: Complete Orchestral Works (withLionel Bringuierand theTonhalle-Orchester Zürich) |
|
| The Golden Age |
|
| The Song of Names (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) |
|
| Solace |
|
| Player 1 (withCristian Măcelaruand theRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra) |
|
Awards and nominations
editARIA Music Awards
editTheARIA Music Awardsare presented annually from 1987 by theAustralian Recording Industry Association(ARIA).
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | The Golden Age | Best Classical Album | Nominated | [40] |
ECHO Klassik Awards
editTheECHO Klassik Awardswas presented annually from 1994 until 2017 by the Deutsche Phono-Akademie.
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Virtuoso | Newcomer Award | Won | [41] |
Forbes30 Under 30
editIn 2017, Chen was selected to be included inForbes30 Under 30under the Entertainment and Sports category for Asia.[42]
References
edit- ^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.Retrieved10 December2020.
- ^"Ray Chen".Forbes.
- ^"Ray Chen".LA Phil.
- ^"Ray Chen".Tatler Asia.Edipresse Media Asia. 2021.Retrieved17 November2022.
- ^"Artist Profile: Ray Chen".String Ovation.
- ^"Australia National Kendall Violin Competition".Archived fromthe originalon 20 April 2008.
- ^"Ray Chen on Practicing and His Musical Journey".Simply for Strings.Retrieved22 May2023.
- ^"Ray Chen (Violin)".Bach Cantatas Website.
- ^Laureates Archive – Prizewinners since 1983,Menuhin Competition
- ^"Orchestra - Mariinsky Ballet and Opera Theatre, Saint Petersburg, Russia".www.mariinsky-theatre.com.Retrieved17 November2022.
- ^"На VIII Международном фестивале Мстислава Ростроповича выступил Максим Венгеров (in Russian".ClassicalMusicNews.Ru(in Russian). 4 April 2017.Retrieved17 November2022.
- ^"Ray Chen Signs Exclusive Contract With Sony Classical".PR Newswire.22 March 2010.Retrieved16 June2024.
- ^"Ray Chen wins Queen Elisabeth Competition".Flanders News.VRT NEWS. 31 May 2009.Retrieved10 April2019.
- ^"New Sony signing: Ray Chen".Gramophone.29 March 2010.Retrieved27 March2011.
- ^"Artist Biography"(PDF).Echo Klassik.
- ^"Ray Chen plays Bruch Violin Concerto 1st Mvt at Nobel Prize Concert in 2012".YouTube.com.Retrieved2 September2018.
- ^"Violinist Ray Chen to play with Queensland Symphony Orchestra".Courier Mail.
- ^Philharmoniker, Berliner."Made in Berlin | Berliner Philharmoniker".www.berliner-philharmoniker.de.Retrieved3 November2023.
- ^2016 Jury,Menuhin Competition
- ^"Ray Chen Signs with Decca Classics".VIOLINIST.COM.12 January 2017. Archived fromthe originalon 22 January 2021.Retrieved14 May2021.
- ^"Ray Chen - RSB".RSB.
- ^"Ray Chen - Mozart in the Jungle".IMDb.
- ^"2020 GOLDEN HORSE/The 2020 Golden Horse Awards".Focus Taiwan.21 November 2020.Retrieved6 December2020.
- ^"Concert review: Young Aussie violinist Ray Chen shows why he's the darling of the concert halls".Daily Telegraph.
- ^"Recipients of Instruments".Nippon Music Foundation(in Japanese).Retrieved4 November2019.
- ^Esguerra, Tyler (26 October 2021)."Riot's Arcane soundtrack features Imagine Dragons, Sting, Denzel Curry, Pusha T, Bea Miller, and more".Dot Esports.Retrieved4 February2022.
- ^"Arcane: League of Legends - Every Song, Ranked".ScreenRant.3 February 2022.Retrieved4 February2022.
- ^"The DeanBeat: The Game Awards and the game industry are back".VentureBeat.10 December 2021.Retrieved4 February2022.
- ^THE GAME AWARDS 2021: Sting Performs "What Could Have Been" from Netflix's "Arcane"(YouTube). The Game Awards. 9 December 2021.Retrieved11 February2022.
- ^"Superstar Jay Chou breaks records with new music - China.org.cn".www.china.org.cn.
- ^"Ray Chen, The Armani-Sponsored Virtuoso Who is a Social Media Star".27 October 2017.
- ^ab"Meet the Violinist... Who's Also Created an App and Viral Video".2 November 2021.Retrieved12 July2022.
- ^The daily Ray Chen wake up ritual #mornings #birthdayboy #pisces(Facebook). 9 March 2014.Retrieved12 July2022.
- ^"10 ways the 2010s changed classical music forever".Classic FM.19 May 2014.Retrieved7 February2020.
- ^Chen, Ray (25 March 2020)."X".X.
- ^"How to Cope with Insecurity as An Artist Thanks to Ray Chen's IGTV Series".31 May 2023.
- ^"|.316.495.003 | GEWA music USA".www.gewamusicusa.com.
- ^"The Vogue Violinist from the Small Town Town Down Under makes his CSO Debut".24 July 2017.
- ^"The contest between harmony and re-invention".25 April 2022.Retrieved12 July2022.
- ^"2018 ARIA Awards Winners".Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).Retrieved30 May2023.
- ^"Ray Chen, ECHO Classic, 2011".ECHO Klassik.
- ^"Forbes 30 Under 30".Forbes.Retrieved12 July2022.
