Biography
The New York Times writes, “she has shown she is more than a virtuosic clone,” and a critic at the Gilmore Rising Stars Series notes that “Chen displayed almost frightening technical capabilities wedded to superior musicality.” She has most recently won the first Villa-Lobos International Piano Competition’s Silver Medal in 2006, adding to her list of numerous international awards including 1st Prizes in the Young Concert Artists International Competition; the Second International Piano-e Competition; the Washington International Music Competition; and the Missouri Southern International competition, as well as top prizes at the Arthur Rubinstein, Van Cliburn and Santander Paloma O’Shea International competitions.
Jie has appeared in concerts and recitals to rave reviews since her major orchestral debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Wolfgang Sawallisch playing the Rachmaninoff Second Concerto in 2001. Other American debuts include concerts at Carnegie and Alice Tully Halls in New York, the Verizon Hall in the Kimmel Center of Philadelphia, the Bass Performing Arts Center in Texas, the Terrace Theater in the Kennedy Center, the Schubert Club in Minneapolis, the Minnesota Orchestra with Osmo Vanska, the New Jersey Symphony with Neeme Jarvi, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony, Kravis Center of Florida, the Israel Symphony Orchestra with Arthur Fisch. Internationally, she has played with the Sanremo Sifonica in Italy, the Israel Philharmonic Mendi Rodan, the Sinfonia Varsovia of Poland, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Madrid with Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Orchestre Philharmonique du Maroc, La Salle Cortot in Paris and more. Her performances have been broadcast by television and radio all over the world. She is also an avid chamber music player and has collaborated with famous groups such as the Aviv Quartet of Israel, Takacs Quartet of Hungary and the Ysaye Quartet of France.
Jie's debut album with Naxos is now available on Amazon.com.
Upcoming concerts include performances at Bargemusic, the Ravinia Rising Stars Series, the Herkulessaal in Munich, the Orchestra Sao Paulo in Brazil, the Musee du Louvre in Paris, in Hong Kong at the Sheung Wan Civic Center, and much more both in the United States and around the world.
Jie was born in Guang Dong, China. She started playing piano at age four, was accepted into the prestigious Shanghai Conservatory at age eight, and came to America in 1998 to study at the Curtis Institute with Claude Frank and Seymour Lipkin. She has graduated from Curtis and is now continuing her studies at the Mannes College of Music with Jerome Rose in New York. Jie Chen is a Yamaha Artist.
© 2007 Jie Chen