Jiafeng Chen - Biography

In December 2005, aged 18, Jiafeng Chen won 2nd Prize in the prestigious Sibelius Violin Competition, Helsinki, joining a distinguished list of previous prize-winners. This immediately led to accolades from the Finnish press and from such distinguished figures as Pierre Amoyal, Herman Krebbers and Tuomas Haapanen. It also led to engagements with the Tapiola Sinfonietta and Paavo Berglund, with the Vaasa City Orchestra, and a recital in Hameenlinna, as well as invitations to perform in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, UK and France.

Jiafeng is already building an international career after winning 1st Prize at the 9th Wieniawski International Violin Competition in Poland, with further prizes from the European Union Music Competition and the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music, and 2^nd Prize at the 13^th Menuhin International Violin Competition in Cardiff. Jiafeng is also a Laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition.

Born in Shanghai in 1987, Jiafeng Chen started to play the violin at the age of three. He studied with Prof. Peter Shixiang Zhang at the age of four. From 1996 to 2004, he studied with Prof. Jiyang Zhao and Prof. Lei Fang in the Music School affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of Music. During these years, he was awarded numerous scholarships. In 2002, he gave solo performances across the country of U.S.A.

In 2004 he moved to England to study at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester, and soon after was awarded from the Hattori Foundation and the Manoug Parikian Prize at the Musicians' Benevolent Fund String Awards in London. This led to an invitation to give his Wigmore Hall debut in December 2005.

He has participated in numerous music festivals and seasons including the BBC proms cycle of 2006 as a soloist when his recital was broadcast on BBC radio 3; the Verbier Festival which his solo recital was broadcast on France Musique; the Lake District Music Festival, and the Shanghai 'Spring' International Music Festival. He has had numerous concerts throughout the world. He has also performed as soloist with many eminent orchestras and conductors including the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Halle Orchestra (Rory Macdonald), Manchester Camerata (Douglas Boyd), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Petri Sakari), Tapiola Sinfonietta (Paavo Berglund), Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (John Storgards), Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie (Paul Goodwin) and the National Orchestra of Belgium (Gilbert Varga).

He has recently had masterclasses with Pierre Amoyal, Bruno Canino, Ana Chumachenco, Bernard Greenhouse, Burkhard Godhoff, Eduard Grach, Tuomas Haapanen, Piotr Janowski, Herman Krebbers, Boris Kuschnir, Gordan Nikolich, Itzhak Perlman, Vadim Repin and Ruggiero Ricci.

Alongside his developing concert career, he is currently continuing his studies from September 2006 with Prof. Jan Repko at the Royal College of Music in London. He holds the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Scholarship.

Jiafeng plays a Nicolo Gagliano (Naples, 1751), kindly on loan from the Violin Syndicate owners.