Kevin Chen

Age – 15
Canada

An avid composer of over 100 works including four full symphonies for orchestra and one piano concerto, five of Kevin’s works have been published and many were commissioned and performed in concerts. Since his orchestral debut with the Abbotsford Youth Orchestra at the age of seven, Kevin has performed many concerts with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Okanagan Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Island Symphony, the Astana Opera Symphony Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra. Many of these performances featured Kevin’s own orchestral works. In July 2019, Kevin won first place in the e-Piano Junior Competition as well as two additional prizes for the best performance of a Schubert and a Russian work. In May 2019, Kevin was a laureate in the Astana Piano Passion Competition (Kazakhstan).

In 2016, he was featured in Maclean’s magazine, in the issue dedicated to the achievements of “100 Remarkable Canadians.” In 2013, Kevin was listed in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Top 30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30.” Kevin achieved third place in the 17 and under category at the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Competition in 2015 when he was ten years old. In 2013, he was awarded first place in the Canadian Music Competition. Kevin was awarded First Class Honours with Distinction in his ARCT Performer’s Royal Conservatory of Music exam at the age of eight, being the youngest in Canada to do so. Kevin has participated in numerous master classes with acclaimed pianists including Emanuel Ax, Alessio Bax, Katherine Chi, John Perry, Minsoo Sohn, and Roman Rabinovich.

Kevin is currently studying with Marilyn Engle at the University of Calgary. In his spare time, he enjoys playing violin with his siblings, programming and solving Rubik’s cube.

REPERTOIRE

Round I      Tuesday 3:40 pm

Bach – Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in C-sharp major, BWV 848, WTC I
Scriabin – Sonata No. 2 in G-sharp minor, Op. 19
Vine – Sonata No. 1, Movement I

ROUND II     Thursday 3:00 pm

Beethoven – Sonata No. 26 Les Adieux in E-flat major, Op. 81a
Liszt – Réminiscences de Don Juan, S. 418

ROUND III

Tchaikovsky – Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23