Chen Jiafeng (born April 13, 1987) () is a Chinese

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist. He was the first prize winner in the 2003 International Competition for Young Violinists K. Lipinski and H. Wieniawski and the second prize winner in the 2008 International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition, and the second prize of the

International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition The International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition, named after Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, is a competition for violinists up to age 30. It is held every five years in Helsinki. The first competition took place in year 1965, eight years after ...

in Helsinki.

Career

Born in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, Chen started learning violin at the age of three, while his teacher Zhang Shixiang wrote a violin textbook based on the experience of tutoring him. His violin teachers were Peter Shixiang Zhang, Jiyang Zhao and Lei Fang. He attended the primary and middle schools affiliated to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and then Chetham’s School of Music in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. He holds a

Bachelor of Music Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the majority of work consists of prescr ...

Degree (with honours) from the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and a Master of Music Degree from

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Chen teaches at the Chetham’s School of Music, Royal College of Music and the Birmingham Conservatoire. He is the music director of the Jiafeng Chen Music Studio which holds music summer courses in the world’s leading cities since 2015. Chen is a top prize winner of several major violin competitions. He won 1st prize at the International Competition for Young Violinists K. Lipinski and H. Wieniawski in Lublin with further prizes from the European Union Music Competition and the Frederic Chopin Academy of Music, 2nd Prizes at The

in Helsinki, the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists in Cardiff and the Windsor International String Competition in Windsor. Chen is also a Laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition. Further more, he was awarded the Paganini Prize at the Indianapolis International Violin Competition. The centuries-old Worshipful Company of Musicians in UK awarded him a special Medal for his outstanding achievements and contributions during his studies at the Royal College of Music graduation ceremony. After his studies, he was appointed a violin professor at the

, and he also teaches at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the Chetham's School of Music. Jiafeng Chen’s career as a soloist has taken him to all six continents. He has been heard as a soloist with the

Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Finnish: ''Radion sinfoniaorkesteri'', Swedish: ''Radions symfoniorkester'') is a Finnish broadcast orchestra based in Helsinki, and the orchestra of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle). The orchestra prima ...

, Hallé Orchestra,http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/content/articles/2006/11/04/halle_orchestra_feature.shtml Halle Orchestra Concert review Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Opera National de Nancy,

Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie The Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie ( en, Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia) is a Belgian chamber orchestra based in Mons. History The Orchestra was founded in 1958 by the violinist Lola Bobesco and its leadership was entrusted successivel ...

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, W ...

(U.K.) amongst others and at concert halls including the Finlandia Hall, Wigmore Hall, Royal Albert Hall and Carnegie Hall. He has collaborated with violinists

David Chan David Chan is an American violinist, conductor, and a concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He is one of the most sought-after violinists of his generation. He is a prizewinner at the International Tchaikovsky Competition, the Inter ...

and Cho-Liang Lin; cellists Nan-Cheng Chen and Gary Hoffman; and conductors Paavo Berglund, Paul Goodwin,

Lorin Maazel Lorin Varencove Maazel (, March 6, 1930 – July 13, 2014) was an American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight and by 1953 had decided to pursue a career in music. He had established a reputation in th ...

, Paolo Olmi, Petri Sakari,

John Storgårds John Gunnar Rafael Storgårds (born 20 October 1963 in Helsinki) is a Finnish violinist and conductor. Biography Storgårds studied violin with Esther Raitio and Jouko Ignatius at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, and continued his violin studies ...

and Gilbert Varga. He has performed solo concerts at Beijing International Chamber Music Festival broadcast by CCTV Music Channel, Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, Lake District Summer Music, BBC Proms in UK broadcast by BBC Radio 3, Verbier Festival in Switzerland broadcast by France Musique, Valdres Sommersymfoni in Norway, La Jolla Music Society SummerFest in USA, opening gala of the Menuhin Violin Competition, and performed as guest concertmaster with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He was praised as “not only technically brilliant but also subtle, deeply felt and astonishingly mature” (Nottingham Evening Post) and “surged forward while remaining classically poised” (BBC). Jiafeng Chen’s artistry has also supported humanitarian causes. After he heard the earthquake in Sichuan in 2008, he organised many recitals in the UK and Italy where raised over £4800 to support the students from Sichuan as scholarships. He also performed at fundraising events organised by the

British Red Cross The British Red Cross Society is the United Kingdom body of the worldwide neutral and impartial humanitarian network the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with more ...

. English National Opera, Dance Umbrella International Festival and the Royal College of Music. In 2019, he went to South Africa with the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire as part of the “ARCO” music education project to help the students there.https://creativefeel.co.za/2019/02/international-musician-supports-music-education-in-soweto/ Arco Project Jiafeng Chen studied with Peter Shixiang Zhang, Jiyang Zhao and Lei Fang, Jan Repko, Ronald Copes and Cho-Liang Lin at the Primary and Middle Schools Affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Chetham’s School of Music, the Royal College of Music London (first-class BMus honours) and The Juilliard School. Jiafeng Chen plays a Nicolo Gagliano violin (Naples, 1751) kindly on loan from a generous group of owners.

Awards

*1995 2nd prize, Shanghai "Yi-Fu" Cup (Chinese: 逸夫杯) Violin Competition *2001 2nd prize, 7th National Youth Violin Competition, China. *2003 1st prize, 9th International Wieniawski Violin Competition with further prizes from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

Music Competition and the Frederic Chopin Academy of Music, Poland. *2004 3rd prize, 4th International

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk (, also ; rus, Новосиби́рск, p=nəvəsʲɪˈbʲirsk, a=ru-Новосибирск.ogg) is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the Russian Census ...

Youth Violin Competition, Russia. *2004 Manoug Parikian Award, Musicians Benevolent Fund String Award 2004, United Kingdom. *2005 Runner-up & the Most Promising under 18 Quartet, National Youth String Quartet Competition, United Kingdom. *2005 Winner, Concerto Competition at Chetham's School of Music, Manchester, U.K. *2005 2nd prize, 9th International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition, Finland. *2006 Education Award, Musicians Benevolent Fund String Award 2006, United Kingdom. *2008 2nd Prize, 13th Menuhin International Violin Competition for Youth, Cardiff, United Kingdom. *2008 Winner, Concerto Competition,

, London, U.K. *2009 Laureate, Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition, Brussels, Belgium *2010 3rd Prize for the Performance of Caprices by N. Paganini, Indianapolis International Violin Competition, Indianapolis, USA *2010

Worshipful Company of Musicians The Worshipful Company of Musicians is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. Its history dates back to at least 1350. Originally a specialist guild for musicians, its role became an anachronism in the 18th century, when the centre of ...

Silver Medal *2010 Winner, Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Scholarship *2011 2nd Prize, The 3rd Windsor International String Competition, Windsor Castle, U.K.

References

External links

Jiafeng Chen's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Jiafeng 1987 births Living people Alumni of the Royal College of Music People educated at Chetham's School of Music Juilliard School alumni Chinese classical violinists International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition prize-winners People's Republic of China musicians Musicians from Shanghai 21st-century classical violinists Academics of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire