Echopedia

Min-Yen Chien (簡名彥)

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Min-Yen Chien (簡名彥)

Identity Snapshot

  • English: Min-Yen Chien
  • Chinese: 簡名彥
  • Era: 1953
  • Geography: 台灣南投
  • Core roles: professor, educator
  • Source: TAH Foundation Who’s Who

2026-09-10 cross-check: two further TAH encyclopedia records in the vault name this profile — [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/313-mien-chien-e7-b0-a1-e5-8b-89201502|TAH #313 Mien Chien 簡勐, 2015/02]] and [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/68-dr-minze-chien|TAH #68 Dr. Minze Chien 簡明子]], a same-surname violinist record and a distinct engineer person (TAA-GWC president), retained here only as a name-disambiguation pointer. Person pages for both namesakes exist in the vault: |Dr. Minze Chien 簡明子 (TAA-GWC president, engineer) and |Mien Chien 簡勐 (recheck 2026-09-11). Peer first-generation TA musicians also in-vault: [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/103-hanchien-lee-e6-9d-8e-e5-87-bd-e8-92-a8-pianist|TAH #103 pianist record]], [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/119-melody-kuo-e9-83-ad-e9-9b-8b-e5-be-8b-piano-accompanist|TAH #119 piano accompanist]], [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/130-chiun-teng-cheng-e9-84-ad-e4-bf-8a-e9-a8-b0-violinist-201502|TAH #130 violinist]].

Min Yen Chien is one of the foremost and first generation of Taiwanese international violinists. Born on August 2, 1953 into a medical and musical family in Nantou, Taiwan. He started his violin lessons at age seven, and by the age of eight, he had won the first prize of the National Violin Competition for children in Taiwan. At that competition, Chien was heard by Raphael Hillyer then as the violist of The Juilliard String Quartet, visiting and touring Taiwan in 1961. Since that time, Chien became a protege of Hillyer. At age ten, Chien was the first prize winner of the First National Violin Competition sponsored by Rotary Club of Taiwan. With the encouragement and sponsorship of Hillyer, Chien came to the United States in 1967; during that summer, he won the first prize of the Violin Concerto Competition at the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan, and performed the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with its orchestra. In the year of 1967-68, he studied at the North Carolina School of the Arts with Marc Gottlieb and Ruggiero Ricci. Under the recommendation of Ricci, Chien entered the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School in 1968 as a full scholarship student under the di

Education

  • Juilliard School — 1975 — B.A. Music
  • Juilliard School — 1976 — M.S. Music

Employment

  • 國立台北藝術大學音樂系 — present — 專任副教授

簡名彥 is counted among the first generation of Taiwanese international violinists; his TAH encyclopedia entries ([[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/128-min-yen-chien-e7-b0-a1-e5-90-8d-e5-bd-a5-violinist-201502|TAH #128]] and [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/241-min-yen-chien-e7-b0-a1-e5-90-8d-e5-bd-a5-201502|TAH #241]], both 2015/02) record the Juilliard years and the current appointment as 專任副教授 at 國立台北藝術大學音樂系.

Family

No filled family fields on the TAH profile.

Sources

First-generation TA musician network (all in-vault)

His own records [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/128-min-yen-chien-e7-b0-a1-e5-90-8d-e5-bd-a5-violinist-201502|TAH #128]] / [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/241-min-yen-chien-e7-b0-a1-e5-90-8d-e5-bd-a5-201502|TAH #241]] place him beside the peer musicians already profiled in the vault: pianist Hanchien Lee 李貞鏘, piano accompanist |Melody Kuo 郭雋律 ([[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/119-melody-kuo-e9-83-ad-e9-9b-8b-e5-be-8b-piano-accompanist|TAH #119]]), and violinist Chiun-Teng Cheng 鄭雅鈴. Same-surname disambiguation retained: |Dr. Minze Chien 簡明子 (engineer, TAA-GWC president) and |Mien Chien 簡勐 are distinct persons.

  • |TAH Foundation
  • |taiwaneseamericanhistory.org
  • [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/128-min-yen-chien-e7-b0-a1-e5-90-8d-e5-bd-a5-violinist-201502||TAH #128 — 簡名彥, Violinist]]
  • [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/241-min-yen-chien-e7-b0-a1-e5-90-8d-e5-bd-a5-201502||TAH #241 — 簡名彥]]
  • |Melody Kuo 郭雋律 — peer first-generation TA musician in the TAH encyclopedia corpus

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