Education
Within five years he completed all 10 levels of the Suzuki Music Education (Suzuki method) in Queensland, Australia.
Within five years he completed all 10 levels of the Suzuki Music Education (Suzuki method) in Queensland, Australia.
Chen began learning violin at the age of four. Chen was invited to play solo with the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of eight. He was also invited to perform at the opening celebration concert of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
Ray Chen was chosen as Australia"s 4MBS"s "Young Space Musician of the Year" in 1999.
He was awarded the Sydney May Memorial Scholarship of the Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB) for being the youngest and most talented musician. Chen was awarded his Licentiate Diploma of Music with distinction by the AMEB at age 11.
Subsequently, he was engaged for performances including debuts with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra in Saint St. Petersburg and at the International Rostropovich Festival with the State Symphony Orchestra of Baku, Azerbaijan, under the baton of Vengerov. In the summers of 2006 and 2007, Chen attended the Encore School for Strings, studying under David Cerone at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
In 2008 he attended the Aspen Music Festival on a full tuition fellowship, studying with Cho-Liang Lin (Juilliard) and Paul Kantor (Cleveland Institute of Music).
Chen graduated with a bachelor of music degree in violin performance under Aaron Rosand at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Chen was signed by Sony Classical in 2010. He has recorded the César Franck Violin Sonata, the violin concertos of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Felix Mendelssohn, and more.
Following his success at the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists, Violinist Ray Chen captured the First Prize of the 2009 Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition in Brussels, Belgium, bringing him numerous concert engagements, a recording, and a three-year loan of the "Huggins" Stradivarius from the Nippon Music Foundation.
He was the Competition"s youngest participant. He is currently on the roster of Columbia Artists Management.