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.