Rebellious violinist redefines classical music

Taiwanese-Australian violinist Ray Chen / Courtesy of Mast Media

Ray Chen steals show for unconventional fan outreach

By Park Jin-hai

Taiwanese-Australian violinist Ray Chen is a familiar name to younger audiences, even though they are not such huge classic music fans. The musician became famous, partly because of his constant, active “communication” with them.

Dubbed a “classical musician in the 21st century” or a “rebel of classical music,” the 29-year-old violinist has been continuing his unconventional moves in the music circle.

Through his comical video clips on social media featuring him playing music in the shower, playing violin with his bow between his legs and falling flat on his bed after five seconds of practice as well as his playful and passionate playing style, Chen has been breaking through in interactions with fans.

He also recently performed a surprise in-flight concert to calm passengers on a plane to Lisbon that made an emergency landing.

“I try not to overthink any titles that might be associated with me, because being an artist means finding out who you are and shaping that image yourself _ not letting others do so,” Chen said. “For me, I simply try to share with my audiences who I am, and I do this with the tools I have at my disposal: meetings with fans, pre-concert talks and of course the most important and powerful tool these days _ social media.

“Now I can take my audiences with me as I travel the world, giving them a personal insight into what I'm doing. Music is about the connection between people, and the more effort you put into making that connection more relatable and understandable, the more the music will be enjoyed.”

Chen visited Korea over the weekend for two days of violin recitals in Incheon and Seoul, which came as part of his concert tours in support of his fourth album, released June 1. His recital program features a variety of works from Beethoven, Saint-Saens, Ysaye, Manuel de Falla and Vittorio Monti.

Titled “The Golden Age,” it evokes the era of his favorite violinists: Oistrakh, Heifetz, Milstein, Kreisler _ and many more, he says. “I went into a lot of research and thinking of how I could bring my sound closer to theirs with present-day recording technology. It's almost impossible nowadays to recreate the warmth of vinyl on a digital album. However there are a few things one can do to produce the same intimate, heartwarming sound that seems to be harder to find nowadays,” Chen said.

Emerging from Australia as a child prodigy in the late 1990s, Chen began learning violin at age four. He made his solo orchestra debut at age eight, and before turning nine he also performed at the opening celebration concert for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.

He won both the Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition in 2008 and the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in 2009, putting himself on the map. He released his debut album “Virtuoso” in 2011 and became the youngest artist to perform at a Nobel Prize Concert in 2012.

Chen went on record concertos by Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Bruch and Mendelssohn for such labels as Sony Classical and Decca. He plays a 1715 “Joachim” Stradivarius on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation. This instrument was once owned by the famed Hungarian violinist, Joseph Joachim (1831-1907).

“The violin I'm performing on was once owned by the famous Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim who was the most prominent violinist of his day and was personal friends with many composers such as Brahms, Bruch and Schumann, all of whom dedicated their violin concertos to him,” he said. “It's humbling and inspiring every time I pick up the instrument, to think of all the generations of talented hands it's passed through.”

According to Chen, a violin is like a racecar. “It is extremely sensitive to the touch and the moment you push it, it immediately does what you intend. It's quite thrilling to play and also has great power as well. The violin has these patterns on the back quite like a tiger…and it certainly has the personality of one big wild cat!”