About Sicong Chen
Praised by LSO News for a performance whose “delivery was crisp, precise with feeling,” violinist Sicong Chen is a versatile musician whose work spans solo, chamber, orchestral, and contemporary music. He made his solo debut in 2012 with the Beijing Youth Symphony Orchestra at the Forbidden City Concert Hall. Since then, he has performed internationally at venues including Beijing Concert Hall, Zhongshan Concert Hall, Millennium Monument Concert Hall, China National Library Concert Hall, Gammage Auditorium, Kaufman Music Center, RiverCenter, Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Symphony Hall, and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. In 2015, he made his recording debut with the Beijing Youth Symphony Orchestra, performing works by Xiongda Jiang.
As a soloist, Chen has appeared with the Beijing Youth Symphony Orchestra under Xiongda Jiang, the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra under Sir Richard Prior, the Schwob Philharmonic, the CSU Virtuosi Ensemble conducted by Sergiu Schwartz, Orchestra Northern Arizona under Desmond Siu, and the Blue Morpho Orchestra under Ensluis Montes Olivar. Chen was invited as a guest artist at the International Clarinet Festival in Ostend, Belgium. In 2026 fall, Chen will have solo debut with Scottsdale Symphony Orchestra under baton of Desmond Siu for the Season Opening Gala.
Chen is a prizewinner of numerous competitions, including the Sicong Ma National Violin Competition, Hong Kong International Violin Competition, Schoenfeld International String Competition, Hong Kong International Chamber Music Competition, China Hummingbird Chamber Music Competition, Atlanta Music Club Competition, Schwob School of Music Concerto Competition, LaGrange Symphony Young Artists Competition, and the Grand Prix International Music Award. He has served as concertmaster of the Beijing Youth Symphony Orchestra, Arizona State University Symphony Orchestra, Schwob Philharmonic, Boston University Orchestra, and has performed with the Columbus, LaGrange, Albany, Panama City Symphony Orchestra, and Boston Philharmonic Orchestra.
Dedicated to contemporary music, Chen actively performs, arranges, and collaborates on new works. His string ensemble arrangements for the Reynold Lake Oconee Resort have garnered thousands of views on social media. His performance of the commissioned work Lines Around Corner, in collaboration with Ralph Lewis, was presented at both the SEAMUS National Conference and the College Music Society (CMS) National Conference. In 2026, he will return to the CMS National Conference as an invited presenter, giving a lecture-recital and paper presentation titled Interdisciplinary Applications of the Stanislavsky Method of Acting in Violin Performance and Pedagogy.
An active chamber musician, Chen has collaborated with distinguished artists including Vadim Repin, Cho-Liang Lin, Sergiu Schwartz, Boris Kuchnir, Nikolaj Znaider, Andrés Cárdenes, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Boris Abramov, Jason Vieaux, Demondrae Thurman, Benjamin Beilman, JP Jofre, Ester Park, Branson Yeast, and Luca Lombardi. His artistry has been recognized by Germany’s Sulzbach-Rosenberg Stadt, Seen and Heard International, and Japan’s Kobe Shimbun. In 2023, he co-founded the Aestas String Quartet, the graduate string quartet in residence at the Schwob School of Music. In 2025, Chen joined award-winning Mongolia Art Song Ensemble.
Born in Beijing, China, Chen began studying the violin at age twelve with Xiongda Jiang. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in violin performance from Arizona State University with Danwen Jiang, followed by an Artist Diploma and Master of String Quartet from Columbus State University under Sergiu Schwartz, the William B. and Sue Marie Turner Distinguished Faculty Chair in Violin. He has served on the faculty of the Manhattan International Music Festival and is an ambassador for the Vargas Music Foundation, where he teaches and mentors young musicians. Chen is currently pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Boston University under the guidance of Peter Zazofsky.