BOBBY CHEN
One of the most respected young artists of his generation, Bobby Chen, born in Sandakan, Malaysia, burst on the scene in 1996 with a sensational season of concerts, which included a British tour with Lord Menuhin in a performance of Beethoven's Triple Concerto and a recital at the Royal Festival Hall as part of the South Bank Prokofiev Festival.
Since then, regular appearances in mainstream London and British venues such as Bridgewater Hall, the Royal Concert Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, Purcell Room and the Wigmore Hall have contributed to Chen's remarkably fast rise as a household name in Britain and the Far East .
Ruth Nye, who spotted his precocious talent in 1991 at the Yehudi Menuhin School, brought him to the Royal Academy of Music where Chen also worked with Hamish Milne. During his four-year spell there, Chen won no fewer than eight coveted awards, noticeably that for ‘Best Final Recital'. He was also awarded numerous scholarships including the prestigious ‘Yamaha European Foundation Scholarship' and ‘Royal Overseas League Prize', which enabled him to collaborate with artists such as Dmiti Bashkirov, Fanny Waterman, John Lill, Charles Rosen, Nikolai Demidenko and Krystian Zimerman.
His highly successful concerto début in 1998 with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra playing Rachmaninoff's Paganini Variations led to collaboration with conductors Massimiliano Valdes, Lan Shui, Sir Neville Marriner, Lord Menuhin and several orchestras including the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Warsaw Sinfonia and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.
He has since travelled to Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, China, Japan, the USA and most of Europe. In Kuala Lumpur, his performance at the Petronas Towers of Beethoven's first Piano Concerto with Sir Marriner was so warmly received, he was asked to return for a series of recitals in the country and concerto performances with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in 2003.
That same year saw the release of the acclaimed 'Live at the Wigmore Hall' recording for the Jacques Samuel label with which he previously recorded a solo CD of works by Haydn, Liszt, Schubert and Stravinsky. Chen also recorded for the 'Cello Classics' label with cellist Leonid Gorokhov and broadcasted on Classic FM.
Other highlights include Bobby Chen's return to Malaysia for performances of Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra under Matthias Bamert, solo recitals in London, appearance for the London Chamber Music Festival and broadcasts for the Radio Television Hong Kong.
"...an amazing talent" - Sir Neville Marriner
"...his playing is truly beautiful" - Lord Yehudi Menuhin