A native of Taipei, Taiwan, violinist, violist, and pianist Dr. Yi-Chun Lin serves as principal viola of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Lin has served as concertmaster and principal viola of orchestras in New York, Taiwan, and music festivals worldwide. Her international solo appearances include the Texas Music Festival orchestra, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, and the Akademische Orchester at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany.
In addition to her orchestral and solo career, Yi-Chun Lin is a passionate chamber musician. She joined the Evita Quartet in 2013, which won the Bronze medal in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in 2014, received invitations to several world renowned chamber competitions including Premio Paolo Borciani in Reggio Emilia, Italy, and the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition in London. The Evita Quartet served as quartet-in-residence at the 2014 Banff Chamber Music program and the Ensemble-in-residence at Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings in 2013. Dr. Lin has been featured on WQXR radio in New York City and on South Dakota Public Broadcasting, and in the Argus Leader and the Leipzig Volkszeitung, Germany.
Dr. Lin looks for musical inspiration through different genres of music and art. Her collaborations with other artists include the Pacifica String Quartet, John Luther Adams, Thomas Adès, Bright Sheng, John Corigliano, Mei-Ann Chen and Kurt Masur, as well as performances with the New World Players on the Final Fantasy project in 2015, the “Art of Time” artists in the Banff Music Festival celebrating The Beatles music in 2014, and with the Ocarina Association of Taiwan as guest pianist. With a strong belief that great music comes from collaborations between curious minds and musical talent, Dr. Lin founded the non-profit organization Sioux Falls Chamber Music Collective (SFCMC) in 2018 with goals to break barriers between music and other artistic fields, bridging the gap between audiences and performers.
Dr. Lin holds violin performance degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and the Mannes College in New York and a doctorate in music from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Among the musicians who are important in her life, violinist Lucie Robert and Aaron Berofsky were mentors on her musical and inspirational journey.
