The debut for Stella Chen with the North Carolina Symphony was in 2023, when she performed Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2 conducted by Carlos Miguel Prieto.
Gramophone 2023 Young Artist of the Year Stella Chen garnered worldwide attention with her first-prize win at the 2019 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, followed in 2020 by an Avery Fisher Career Grant and a Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists.
Since then, Chen has appeared across North America, Europe, and Asia in concerto, recital, and chamber music performances. She recently made debuts with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra, and many others, and appeared at the Wiener Musikverein in Vienna and Berliner Philharmonie in Berlin. In recital, recent appearances include Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, The Phillips Collection, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, and NUME Academy and Festival in Cortona, Italy. She appears frequently with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, both in New York and on tour.
Chen has appeared as a chamber musician in festivals including the Ravinia Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Society, The Perlman Music Program, Music@ Menlo, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Kronberg Academy, and Sarasota Music Festival. Chamber music partners include Itzhak Perlman, James Ehnes, and Matthew Lipman.
Chen is the inaugural recipient of the Robert Levin Award from Harvard University, where she was inspired by Robert Levin himself. Teachers and mentors have included Donald Weilerstein, Itzhak Perlman, Miriam Fried, and Catherine Cho. She received her doctorate from The Juilliard School, where she serves as teaching assistant to her longtime mentor Li Lin.
Chen plays the 1720 General Kyd Stradivarius, on generous loan from Dr. Ryuji Ueno and Rare Violins In Consortium: Artists and Benefactors Collaborative, and the 1708 Huggins Stradivarius, courtesy of the Nippon Music Foundation.
