Violinist Richard Lin with collaborative pianist Chih-Yi Chen present a program of Wieniawski, Grieg, and Tchaikovsky live from the Chicago Cultural Center.
Taiwanese-American violinist Richard Lin is the newly crowned Gold Medalist of the 10th Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis which took place this past September.
Highlights of Mr. Lin’s 2018-2019 season include recitals in Chicago, La Jolla and throughout Indiana. He will make debut concerto appearances with the North Carolina and Muncie symphonies in the United States and will perform with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa and the Taiwan Philharmonic in multiple performances in Kaohsiung, Taipei, Tokyo and Osaka.
Richard has collaborated with numerous orchestras and performed at celebrated concert venues throughout the world including the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra under conductor Norichika Iimori at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. Other orchestras with whom he has worked are the NDR Radiophilharmonie; Poznań, Łódź and Polish Baltic philharmonics; Shanghai and Singapore symphonies; Nagoya, Sendai, Auckland, Taiwan, and Oklahoma City philharmonics; Hong Kong Sinfonietta, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Amadeus Polish Chamber Orchestra, and the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia among others.
He released his first album on the Fontec label in 2013 featuring works for violin and orchestra by Beethoven, Bartók and Brahms performed with the Sendai Philharmonic and conductor Pascal Verrot. The following year, he released the complete Brahms Sonatas for Piano and Violin with his brother, pianist Robert Lin.
Richard has amassed a startling collection of top prizes at major international competitions including 1st Prize at the Sendai International Violin Competition; 3rd Prize in the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition in Hannover; and 2nd Prize at the Singapore and Michael Hill International Violin competitions.
Born in Phoenix and raised in Taiwan, Richard graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School where he studied with Aaron Rosand and Lewis Kaplan respectively.
Pianist Chih-Yi Chen’s versatile qualities as a collaborative pianist, chamber musician and soloist have distinguished her as a rarity amongst pianists.
Her work with the talented young violinists of the Indiana University Violin Virtuosi directed by Mimi Zweig garnered her recognition as a specialist in violin repertoire and she has since become a sought-after collaborative pianist. Since 2003, she has been performing with International Violin Competition of Indianapolis Laureates on the annual Laureate Series and on tour. She was also one of the official pianists for the 9th and 10th Quadrennial Competitions. At the 10th Quadrennial, she was awarded special recognition for “Best Performances” of the Beethoven and Mozart sonatas.
Among the numerous musicians with whom she has collaborated are Noah Bendix-Balgley, Jaime Laredo, Barnabás Kelemen, Liviu Prunaru, Mihaela Martin, Augustin Hadelich, Clara-Jumi Kang, Soovin Kim, Susie Park, Svetlin Roussev, Atar Arad, Masumi Per Rostad, Sharon Robinson, Peter Stumpf, James Campbell, Howard Klug, William Ludwig and Thomas Robertello. She has also performed with the Michelangelo, Pacifica, Rubens and Verona string quartets. Chih-Yi was the official pianist for the California State University, Fresno concerto competition for several years.
Ms. Chen is on the faculty of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where she teaches collaborative piano.
Biography courtesy of IMF Chicago.
