Yu‐Chien Tseng

Violin

The exceptional violinist Yu‐Chien Tseng has already set more than his share of records in his young life, triumphing in International Competitions as the youngest participant over and over again. After winning Third Prize in the junior division of the Menuhin Competition at the age of just eleven, he went on to win First Prize of the Sarasate Competition and take the special prize for the best performances of Sarasate’s works as the youngest competitor at age fifteen in an international field of violinists ranging in age up until 27. In 2010, he won the prize for the best performance of the Paganini Concerto at the Premio Paganini Competition in Italy. 2011 brought both First Prize in the Isang Yun International Violin Competition in Korea, taking the prize for the best interpretation prize of works by Isang Yun, as well as the Jury Discretionary Award at the 14th International Tchaikovsky Competition in St. Petersburg. Most recently, Mr. Tseng was the Fifth Laureate and won the Audience Prize at the 2012 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium. This resulted in a number of recitals and concerto appearances, as well as his first recording, during which he turned just eighteen years old.

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Mr. Tseng began to play the violin at age five. By the age of six, he had already performed with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra. In his native Taiwan, he studied with Po‐Shan Lin, Ying‐Liang Shen, I‐Ching Li and C. Nanette Chen. At the age of thirteen, he gained admittance to the renowned Curtis Institute, where he presently studies with Professor Ida Kavafian.


As a winner of the Greenfield Competition in Philadelphia, he performed as a soloist with Philadelphia Orchestra. He has also performed with the National Symphony Orchestra of Belgium, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, Navarra Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonie, among others. He has also performed in recital extensively in the US, Europe and Asia, to consistently high acclaim. He was invited to perform a special concert by the royal family in Brussels to celebrate the anniversary of Belgium’s independence from the Netherlands. His first recording, a disc of all French music, was recently released internationally.