John CHEN

In 2004, at the age of 18, John Chen became the youngest-ever winner of the prestigious Sydney International Piano Competition. He was also awarded special prizes for best performance of works by Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Chamber Music, and the 19th/20th Century Concerto. This followed his win in the third Lev Vlassenko Australasian Piano Competition in Brisbane in 2003, where he swept all the special prizes.

Since then, his career has taken off. In 2006, he debuted with the Adelaide, Tasmanian, and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, and the Singapore International Piano Festival. He completed a 14-city tour of New Zealand with Chamber Music New Zealand and a tour of more than 30 Australian cities, and was heard in concert in Germany and New York.

Chen's appearances in 2007 included Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, Perth, Brisbane and Canberra, with recitals in Western Australia, in New Zealand, and an extensive Chamber Music New Zealand tour with violinist Julia McCarthy. In 2008 he returns to Germany for a series of recitals and to participate in the Bochum Festival with the Jena Orchestra. He has been re-invited to several orchestras in New Zealand and Australia, and makes his Musica Viva Australian recital tour début with violinist Feng Ning.

In 2007 his Trio, the youngest of 12 groups admitted, reached semifinal six in the Fischoff International Chamber Music Competition, the most prestigious chamber competition in US. In 2008 he has been chosen as one of only 42 competitors in the Rubenstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv.

Chen began his piano studies at the age of three. He studied with prominent New Zealand pedagogue Rae de Lisle for 11 years, gaining a Master of Music degree from the University of Auckland by the time he was 18 under her tutelage. He won his first piano competition at the age of nine, and over the subsequent years was successful in a number of national competitions. He made his official orchestral début aged 15, performing Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No 3 with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Since then he has performed in New Zealand, Australia, Japan, USA, and Germany (at the prestigious Ruhr Festival). His recent 31-concert tour of Australia holds the record for the longest Australian tour ever undertaken by a classical musician.

Chen has a particular passion for 20th Century French music. He has recorded the complete solo piano works of Henri Dutilleux for Naxos and a selection of Debussy and Ravel for ABC Classics. Chen is also deeply committed to New Zealand music, and has given the world premieres of works by New Zealand composers Jenny McLeod, Ross Harris, and Claire Cowan (a work he commissioned himself). He has also given the world première of the second piano concerto of Australian composer Roger Smalley

Chen is currently based in Los Angeles, where he studies at the Colburn School of Performing Arts under Professor John Perry.