Ray Chen

A violinist of Taiwanese birth who grew up in Australia, Ray Chen gained early recognition for his luminous and energetic approach to the instrument during the closing years of the 1990s. Prior to reaching the age of twenty-one, he secured victories in both the Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition and the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in the latter part of the 2000s. Throughout the following decade, Chen committed to disc performances of concertos composed by Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Bruch, and Mendelssohn on the Sony Classical and Decca imprints. The 1715 "Joachim" Stradivarius serves as his instrument of choice.

Born in Taiwan during 1989 and brought up in Australia, Chen demonstrated exceptional talent on the violin from a tender age, culminating in an orchestral solo debut alongside the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra at eight years old. He appeared at the ceremonial opening concert for the 1998 Winter Olympics held in Nagano just prior to his ninth birthday. At fifteen, he began studies at Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music, and three years later captured the top honor at the 2008 Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition convened in Cardiff, Wales. During that same year, Chen made his initial appearance in Russia, performing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with the Mariinsky Orchestra in St. Petersburg. The Queen Elisabeth Music Competition brought him another win in 2009.

In 2010, Chen entered into a recording agreement with Sony Classical, which issued his debut album Virtuoso at the start of 2011. With pianist Noreen Polera providing accompaniment, the recording presented compositions by Bach, Franck, Tartini, and Wieniawski. He achieved the distinction of being the youngest performer in the event's history when participating in the 2012 Nobel Prize Concert. Also in that year, Chen issued Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn: Violin Concertos, and followed this with 2014's Mozart: Violin Concertos & Sonata, captured alongside Christoph Eschenbach and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival Orchestra.

Chen transitioned to Decca during 2017 and subsequently put out his fourth album, The Golden Age, in 2018. Featured on it were Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, in addition to assorted shorter works from both classical and popular repertoires such as a rendition of "Summertime" drawn from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess as well as his interpretation of the traditional melody "Waltzing Matilda."