All Ray Chen articles
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VideoRay Chen plays Waltzing Matilda live at Hollywood Bowl
Ray Chen performs his own variations on Watzing Matilda , which as he says is ‘actually quite a tragic song’. ‘For some reason the tune remains jaunty and happy, which is why I decided I would make an arrangement that better describes the story through music,’ writes Chen: ...
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Ray Chen gives Hollywood Bowl debut to 18-year-old Laura Kukkonen
‘Play With Ray’ competition culminates in Bach Double Concerto performance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic
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Horses enjoy a private Ray Chen recital
Ray Chen plays Vivaldi as ‘A serenade to the horses for all the bow hairs I’ve broken’
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Finalists announced for ‘Play with Ray’ competition
Three violinists chosen from video submissions will travel to Los Angeles for a chance to perform with Ray Chen at the Hollywood Bowl
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Ray Chen: What do you do when your E-string breaks in a concert?
In a break from practice, Ray Chen sets himself a challenge to play as if his E string has just broken while admitting that it is not something you can defend against or even practise for – and therefore not worth worrying about either
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5 views on Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto
Five violinists share their insights into this pillar of the repertoire in these snippets of interviews featured in The Strad
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Ray Chen exploring what makes a violin's sound
Ray Chen is looking for violins to be played by the finalists of his Play with Ray competition . Here he pays a visit to the New York offices of Tarisio to try out some instruments. He writes: ‘In this video I go and explore the question “What is ...
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Play with Ray competition for Hollywood Bowl concert
Winner will Perform Bach’s Double Violin Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Ray Chen
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Ray Chen in concert: Tambourin Chinois
From Dutch broadcaster Avrotros comes this video of Ray Chen performing Kreisler’s Tambourin Chinois with Amsterdam Sinfonietta, lead by Candida Thompson. Filmed on 17 February 2019 at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
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Backstage with Ray Chen at the San Francisco Symphony
From Ray Chen’s YouTube channel comes this video of the run-up to his performance of Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole in San Francisco last October. ‘Ever wonder what the soloist is doing before he/she walks out onto the stage?,’ he writes. ‘Practicing? Eating? Or perhaps doing some sort of secret warm ...
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Ray Chen: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
The violinist performs a seasonal favourite. Produced by Daniel Jang
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Ray Chen's practice challenge: Paganini Sauret Cadenza
The violinist lays bare his practice process, beginning from scratch on one of the steepest technical challenges in the repertoire – the Émile Sauret cadenza for Paganini’s First Violin Concerto.
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Ray Chen plays Paganini in the first round of Menuhin Competition 2008
For Ray Chen, the 2008 Menuhin Competition which turbo boosted his career started here, with Paganini’s Caprice no.5. Chen, then 19, won the event before going on to also win the 2009 Queen Elisabeth Music Competition.
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Video: Ray Chen entertains airline passengers with Bach
The violinist plays the Gavotte from Partita no.3 aboard a flight from Amsterdam to Lisbon which had to take an unscheduled stop at Porto
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Ray Chen on Strads, modern instruments and finding his sound
In the second extract from his cover feature interview in the May 2018 Strad, the violinist talks playing Strads and modern instruments, and personalising his sound
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Ray Chen: Waltzing Matilda in quartet arrangement
Ray Chen, cover star of The Strad’s May 2018 issue , with his quartet, Made in Berlin, which features members of the Berlin Philharmonic: Noah Bendix-Balgley, Amihai Grosz and Stephan Koncz. The track is included on Ray Chen’s new album ‘The Golden Age’. The arrangement is by the quartet’s ...
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Ray Chen: 'Failure was so much more meaningful towards my overall development'
In this extract from a candid and wide-ranging interview, the violinist remembers leaving his home town of Brisbane, Australia, at the age of 16 to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia – and immediately feeling out of his depth
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Win a signed copy of Ray Chen's new CD
In the May 2018 issue of The Strad, Ray Chen talks about his feats, failures and the digital revolution that has turned him into a violinist of a new generation. ’I didn’t want to wait until I had an established career,’ he says. ‘I wanted to start ...
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Ray Chen plays the Sarabande from Bach's Partita no.2 in D minor
‘I’ve always been inspired by Bach’s musical connection to the divine. One might not be religious or devout but one cannot deny the presence of a higher force within his music,’ writes Ray Chen in the description of his latest video, filmed on 12 January 2018
