Ray Chen

Winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition (2009) and the Yehudi Menuhin Competition (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 his friend and mentor Maxim Vengerov.

Mr. Chen’s premiere album Virtuoso, released worldwide on Sony Classical in January 2011, received glowing reviews from a range of major publications including The Times and Chicago Tribune, which named it the “CD of the week”. Following the success of this recording, Ray Chen was profiled by The Strad and Gramophone magazines as “the one to watch”. His 2011 recital tour featuring Virtuoso repertoire brought him to Tokyo, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Zurich, and Dresden.

Ray Chen continues to win the admiration of fans and fellow musicians worldwide. In December 2012 he became the youngest soloist ever to perform in the televised Nobel Prize Concert for the Nobel Laureates and the Swedish Royal Family, with Christoph Eschenbach and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic. His Verbier Festival and Filarmonica de la Scala debuts resulted in immediate re-engagements. He received standing ovations at Ravinia and Schleswig-Holstein Festivals, where he was featured by the Munich Philharmonic. Ray Chen is looking forward to his debut performances at Carnegie Hall, Musikverein, Wigmore Hall, Hollywood Bowl and Lucerne Festival. Other highlights of the current season include his collaboration with Riccardo Chailly and the Gewandhaus Orchestra and an all-Mozart recording with Christoph Eschenbach and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, featuring Ray’s own cadenzas.

Born in Taiwan and raised in Australia, Ray Chen was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music at the age of 15, where he studied with Aaron Rosand and was supported by Young Concert Artists. He plays the 1702 "Lord Newlands" Stradivarius violin on generous loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.

Selected press quotes

[Ray Chen] plays with a maturity that scarcely suggests someone still only 21. COLORS DANCE, MOODS SWING, AND CHEN’S ARTISTRY BLAZES.
THE TIMES, February, 2011

RAY CHEN CAN DO PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING HE WANTS ON THE VIOLIN.
Chen makes a beautiful sound but doesn’t get lost in tone for its own sake; he knows how to make a sound that feels exactly right for the piece in question.
WASHINGTON POST, December 2009

With a tone ranging from finely spun to deep burgundy, complete technical and elegant musical command, he makes each piece his own. Keep your ear on Ray Chen. From the evidence of this disc, HE IS AN EXCEPTIONAL TALENT.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE, January 2011

STYLISH AND REFINED … SUPERB.
DIE ZEIT, February, 2011

From the first notes there was no doubt of being in THE PRESENCE OF SOMETHING SPECIAL.
THE STRAD, January 2011

Even when the music is technically complex, he’s also A THOUGHTFUL PLAYER, ABLE TO CAPTIVATE THE LISTENER. He makes the virtuoso tricks sound really beautiful.
GRAMOPHONE, February 2011

Anyone who has ever heard Ray Chen play knows that he is a truly exceptional talent. Not only does his debut album showcase the virtuosity of his playing, it also highlights a considerable imagination and a refined sense of style. [RAY CHEN] IS ONE OF THE GREATEST HOPES OF THE VIOLIN WORLD.
RONDO, January, 2011

For the Chaconne, Chen sets the bar very high, imposing a reading that is very rigorous and very imaginative at the same time. IT’S PURE POETRY.
CLASSICA FRANCE, January, 2011

Behind his playing hides enormous control and a well thought-out vision, but once he is on stage, he creates the impression that everything flows out of his violin spontaneously. HIS WHOLE PERFORMANCE WAS OUT OF THIS WORLD.
DE STADAARD, 2009

This captivates those in thrall to vintage values …RAVISHING SOUND in a crystal-clear acoustic. His rhythmic inevitability reminiscent of Itzhak Perlman. Despite his new world identity, CHEN SEEMS AT ONE WITH THIS OLD WORLD MUSIC.
LISTEN, January 2009

[Ray Chen] produced trills TO DIE FOR. He had the kind of liquid tone that carries with it EMOTIONAL DEPTH OF GREAT INTIMACY.
THE HUFFINGTON POST, February, 2011

“[Ray] Chen’s most IMPRESSIVE STRENGTH is the uncompromising RHYTHMIC INTEGRITY of his playing.”
THE WASHINGTON POST, April 2013

"The tone he gets is almost human in its slight graininess and glow. This gave the HARMONICALLY ADVENTUROUS second movement of the Mozart a sense of the mysterious and the concluding Saint-Saens “Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso” a SPLENDID SENSUALITY."
THE WASHINGTON POST, April 2013

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