Echopedia

Che-Yen Chen (陳則言)

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Che-Yen Chen (陳則言)

Identity Snapshot

  • English: Che-Yen Chen
  • Chinese: 陳則言
  • Era: Birth Place
  • Geography: 台灣台北
  • Core roles: professor, artist, educator
  • Source: TAH Foundation Who’s Who

Taiwanese-American violist Che-Yen Chen, Professor of Viola at the USC Thornton School of Music, has established himself as an active performer and educator. He is a founding member of the Formosa Quartet, recipient of the First-Prize and the Amadeus Prize winner of the 10th London International String Quartet Competition. Since winning the First-Prize in the 2003 William Primrose International Viola Competition and the “President Prize” of the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, Chen has been described by the Strad Magazine as a musician whose “tonal distinction and essential musicality produced an auspicious impression” and by San Diego Union Tribune as an artist whose “most impressive aspect of his playing was his ability to find not just the subtle emotion, but the humanity hidden in the music.” Principal violist of the San Diego Symphony and Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Chen has appeared as guest principal violist with Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra. A former member of Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society Two and participant of the Marlboro Music Festival.

Education

  • Curtis Institute of Music — Year??? — B.S. Viola
  • Juilliard School in New York — Year??? — M.S. Music
  • 耶魯大學 — Ph.D. Music

Employment

  • 聖地牙哥交響樂團 — Present — 中提琴首席
  • 加州州立大學富爾頓分校 — Present — Teaching
  • 南加州大學 — Present — Teaching

Career & Community

  • Performing — Professor of Viola, USC Thornton School of Music; principal violist, San Diego Symphony 聖地牙哥交響樂團 and Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra; guest principal violist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra
  • Chamber music — Founding member of the Formosa Quartet (First-Prize and Amadeus Prize, 10th London International String Quartet Competition); former member, Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society Two; Marlboro Music Festival participant; fellow Formosa Quartet members on Echopedia: Wayne Lee 李家瑋 and Powen Wang 王博文
  • Competition prizes — First-Prize, 2003 William Primrose International Viola Competition; “President Prize”, Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition
  • Teaching — USC 南加州大學 and Cal State Fullerton 加州州立大學富爾頓分校 (present)
  • Education — Curtis Institute of Music (B.S. Viola), Juilliard School (M.S. Music), 耶魯大學 Yale (Ph.D. Music; see Yale Taiwanese American Society)

Family

No filled family fields on the TAH profile.

Sources

Deepen pass 2026-09-14 (vault-only)

  • Both cited TAH encyclopedia records ([[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/227-che-yen-chen-e9-99-b3-e5-89-87-e8-a8-80-violist-201507||#227]], [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/475-che-yen-chen-e9-99-b3-e5-89-87-e8-a8-80-201507||#475]]) are bibliographic records only — no additional absorbable facts beyond the page’s own biography and tables.
  • New existing-slug link: the Formosa Quartet itself has a vault record — [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/6-e7-a6-8f-e7-88-be-e6-91-a9-e6-b2-99-e5-9b-9b-e9-87-8d-e5-a5-8f||TAH #6: Formosa Quartet 福爾摩沙四重奏 (2014/10)]], joinable via quartet-mate |Wayne Lee 李家瑋. The 2018 taiwaneseamerican.org interview Piedmont Chamber Music Festival corroborates Formosa Quartet’s founding (2002), First Prize at the London International String Quartet Competition (2006), and alumni joining the Juilliard Quartet, Ying Quartet, and New York Philharmonic.
  • USC, San Diego Symphony, Curtis, Juilliard, Yale (beyond Yale Taiwanese American Society), Marlboro, and Cal State Fullerton have no standalone vault pages — left as plain text per slice rules.

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