VC Artist Stella Chen Performs Barber Violin Concerto

Stella made her Chinese debut performing the concerto with the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Zhang Yi

For its 2024/25 season-opening concert, the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra and its Artistic director and conductor Zhang Yi welcomed VC Artist Stella Chen in her China debut performing Barber’s Violin Concerto, Op. 14.

Held at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center, Stella’s performance was bookended by the China premiere of Barber’s Souvenirs Ballet Suite, Op. 28, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Op. 35, on the concert program. 

Stella’s performance can be viewed below:

Stella achieved international acclaim with her first-prize win at the 2019 Queen Elizabeth International Violin Competition, followed by the Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award in 2020. 

Also named the Gramophone 2023 Young Artist of the Year, Stella recently made debuts with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Baltimore Symphony, and Belgian National Orchestra, plus appeared at the Vienna Musikverein and Berlin Philharmonie. 

As a chamber musician, she has performed at the Ravinia, Seattle Chamber Music, Perlman Music Program, Music@Menlo, Bridgehampton, Rockport, Kronberg Academy, and Sarasota festivals — and appears frequently with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Her mentors have included Donald Weilerstein, Itzhak Perlman, Miriam Fried, and Catherine Cho. She received her doctorate from The Juilliard School, plus is the inaugural recipient of the Robert Levin Award from Harvard University. 

Stella performs on the 1720 “General Kyd” Stradivarius, on generous loan from Dr. Ryuji Ueno and Rare Violins In Consortium, and the 1708 Huggins Stradivarius courtesy of the Nippon Music Foundation.