Achmad Kevin Ihza: Ray Chen bio

“TO DIE FOR. He had the kind of liquid tone that carries with it EMOTIONAL DEPTH OF GREAT INTIMACY“
THE HUFFINGTON POST

MUSICAL HEROES

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THE MOZART ALBUM

Ray Chen's album featuring works by Mozart is released internationally on January 10, 2014 !

“Sibelius dreamed of a career as a violin virtuoso. Ray Chen is fulfilling this dream with a brilliant debut in the Golden Hall [of Musikverein]. Rock-solid technique and lush sound.” KURIER

BIOGRAPHY

Winner of the Queen Elisabeth (2009) and Yehudi Menuhin Competitions (2008), Ray Chen is among the most compelling young violinists today. “Ray has proven himself to be a very pure musician with great qualities such as a beautiful youthful tone, vitality and lightness. He has all the skills of a truly musical interpreter,” said the great Maxim Vengerov.

Ray has appeared with some of the leading orchestras around the world including the London Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre National de France where he joined Daniele Gatti for the televised Bastille Day concert in Paris to an audience of over 800,000. Other recent highlights include his 2016 debut at the BBC Proms where he appeared with the BBC Symphony at Royal Albert Hall in London.

"It’s hard to say something new with these celebrated works; however, Ray Chen performs them with the kind of authority that puts him in the same category as Maxim Vengerov." (Corriere della Sera)

In 2017, Ray signed to Decca Classics in a major new recording deal and multimedia partnership. Ray has previously released three critically acclaimed albums on Sony: a recital program “Virtuoso” of works by Bach, Tartini, Franck, and Wieniawski, and the Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky concertos with Swedish Radio Orchestra and Daniel Harding. Following the success of these recordings, Ray was profiled by The Strad and Gramophone magazines as “the one to watch”. “Virtuoso” was distinguished with the prestigious ECHO Klassik award. His third recording, an all-Mozart album with Christoph Eschenbach and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, was released in January 2014.

In 2012 he became the youngest soloist ever to perform in the televised Nobel Prize Concert for the Nobel Laureates and the Swedish Royal Family. His Carnegie Hall debut with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and Sakari Oramo, as well as his sold-out Musikverein concert with the Gewandhaus Orchestra and Riccardo Chailly were met with standing ovations. Ray was a Junge Wilde artist at the Konzerthaus Dortmund between 2012 and 2015.

Followed by over 2 million people on SoundCloud, Ray Chen looks to expand the classical music audience by increasing its appeal to the young generation via all available social media platforms. In particular his series of quirky, self- made online videos has proven an effective tool in broadening the reach of classical music through humor and education.

He is the first ever classical musician to be invited to write a regular blog about his life as a touring soloist for the largest Italian publishing house, RCS Rizzoli (Corriere della Sera, Gazzetta dello Sport, Max). In his unstinting efforts to break down barriers between classical music, fashion and pop culture, he is supported by Giorgio Armani and was recently featured in Vogue magazine.

Born in Taiwan and raised in Australia, Ray was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music at age 15, where he studied with Aaron Rosand and was supported by Young Concert Artists. He plays the 1715 “Joachim” Stradivarius violin on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation. This instrument was once owned by the famed Hungarian violinist, Joseph Joachim (1831-1907).

"The tone he gets is almost human in its slight graininess and glow."
THE WASHINGTON POST

CONCERTS

January 20, 2017

Eindhoven, Netherlands
Muziekgebouw Residency / Storioni Festival
Beethoven, Lang & Schumann
w/ Storioni trio
Details and Tickets

January 21, 2017

Eindhoven, Netherlands
Muziekgebouw Residency / Storioni Festival
Ravel: Tzigane
w/ Riga Sinfonietta
Details and Tickets

January 26 & 27, 2017

Bamberg, Germany
Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1
Rachmaninov Vocalise No. 14
w/ Bamberger Symphoniker
Robert Trevino, conductor
Details and Tickets

February 3 & 4, 2017

Tokyo, Japan
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
w/ New Japan Philharmonic
Jukka-Pekka Saraste, conductor
Details and Tickets

February 7 - 20, 2017

USA Tour with Bamberg Symphony
Christoph Eschenbach, conductor
Bruch & Mendelssohn Violin Concertos

Feb 7: New Brunswick, NJ, State Theater
Details and Tickets
Feb 8: New York City, Carnegie Hall
Details and Tickets
Feb 10: Daytona, FL, Peabody Auditorium
Details and Tickets
Feb 11: Miami, FL, Arsht Center
Details and Tickets
Feb 12: West Palm Beach, FL, Dreyfoos Concert Hall
Details and Tickets
Feb 13: Vero Beach, FL, Community Church
Feb 17: Los Angeles, CA, Royce Hall
Details and Tickets
Feb 18: San Diego, CA, Copley Symphony Hall
Details and Tickets
Feb 20: Palm Springs, CA, McCallum Theatre
Details and Tickets

March 11, 2017

Hong Kong
Hong Kong Arts Festival
recital
w/ Julio Elizalde, piano

March 15, 2017

Taipei, Taiwan
Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2
w/ NTCH Taiwan
Shao-Chia Lu, conductor

March 19 - 28, 2017

European Tour w/ Taiwan National Symphony
Shao-Chia Lu, conductor
Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2

Mar 19: Brussels, Belgium, Bozar
Mar 21: Warsaw, Poland, Philharmonic Hall
Mar 23: Linz, Austria, Brucknerhaus
Mar 26: Berlin, Germany, Konzerthaus
Mar 28: Vienna, Austria, Konzerthaus

March 31, April 1 & 2, 2017

Barcelona, Spain
Bernstein Serenade
Barcelona Symphony Orchestra
Simone Young, conductor
Details and Tickets

“Colors dance, moods swing, and Chen’s artistry blazes.”
THE TIMES

MEDIA

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