The recipient of a 2020 Avery Fisher Career Grant and 2020 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, American violinist Stella Chen is the winner of the 2019 Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition. Stella has been lauded for her “phenomenal maturity” and “fresh and spontaneous, yet emotionally profound and intellectually well-structured performance” (The Jerusalem Post).

In the past season alone, Stella made her debuts with the New York Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and the Chicago Symphony. Upcoming projects include the U.S. premiere of Jorg Widmann's Concerto No. 2, conducted by the composer. Other recent engagements include appearances with the Belgian National Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, Luxembourg Philharmonia, and Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra.

Stella is also the first recipient of the Robert Levin Award from Harvard University, the top prize winner of the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition and youngest ever prize winner of the Menuhin Competition. She has given solo performances at venues such as the Kennedy Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago. Other noteworthy ventures include performances in Bhutan, Jordan, Israel, Cuba, and Colombia. Festival appearances include Ravinia, Kronberg Academy, Salzburg Mozarteum, Perlman Music Program, Music@Menlo, the Sarasota Music Festival, and YellowBarn. Stella has collaborated with such notable artists as Itzhak Perlman, Robert Levin, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Matthew Lipman, and the Silk Road Ensemble.

A graduate of the Harvard/New England Conservatory Dual Degree Program, Stella received a Bachelor of Arts in psychology with honors from Harvard University and an MM from NEC. Stella then went on to receive her doctorate at the Juilliard School and was concurrently a professional studies candidate at the Kronberg Academy. Teachers and mentors include Li Lin, Mihaela Martin, Donald Weilerstein, Itzhak Perlman, Catherine Cho, and Miriam Fried. Stella makes her home in New York City , where she is a member of the Bowers Program at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and serves as a teaching assistant to her longtime mentor, Li Lin, at Juilliard.

She plays the 'Huggins' 1708 Stradivarius violin on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation, and the 1700 ex-Petri Stradivarius, on generous loan from Dr. Ryuji Ueno and Rare Violins In Consortium, Artists and Benefactors Collaborative.

Teachers

2017- : Li Lin
2017- : Catherine Cho
2011- : Donald Weilerstein
2014 - 2016 : Miriam Fried
2010 - 2011: Itzhak Perlman

Degrees

2016 - : DMA, The Juilliard School
2016 : MM, New England Conservatory

Concerts

2018: SOPAC, South Orange Performing Arts Center, Recital with Tomer Gewirtzman
2018: Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, New Juilliard Ensemble, The New Juilliard Ensemble, Joel Sachs
2018: Chateau d'Oex, Le Bois qui Chante, Recital with Kristina ROhn
2018: Chester Meeting House, Robbie Collomore Recital Series, Recital with Tomer Gewirtzman
2018: Altenburg Castle, Boston Youth Symphony, BYS, Federico Cortese2016: Paine Hall, Bach Society Orchestra, Bach Society Orchestra, Sasha Scolnik-Brower
2017: Sion, Switzerland, Sion Festival, Chamber Orchestra of Lausanne, Gabor Takacs-Nagy
2016: The Academy of Arts and Letters, Cambridge, The Academy of Arts and Letters, Cambridge, Recital with Jayoung Kim
2014: Sanders Theatre, Israel, Jordan, Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, Federico Cortese

Competitions

2017: 2nd, Audience, Commissioned Work, Tibor Varga International Competition
2015: Winner, Robert Levin Prize
2008: 4th, Menuhin International Violin Competition Senior Category
2006: 5th, Menuhin International Violin Competition Junior Category