Eric Chen

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Born in Tainan City of Taiwan (R.O.C.), Eric (Kwan-Yu) Chen is a full-time professor of Department of Music, Dean of College of Humanities, and Arts, University of Taipei and an adjunct professor of Department of Music, National Taiwan Normal University. He also serves as the music director of “ProArtist International” Music Agency, and has been presenting the foremost and outstanding performers all over the world in Taiwan such as Sir Andras Schiff, Olga Kern, Oxana Yablonskaya, Paul Lewis, Stephen Hough, Yefim Bronfman, Alexei Volodin, Akiko Suwanai, Sayaka Shoji, Ilya Rashkovski, Andrey Gugnin, Gabriela Montero, Steven Isserlis, Peter Jablonski, Laurent Korcia, Charlie Siem, Sirena Huang, and etc.. His piano teachers are as follows: Chang Se-Se, Arkady Aronov, Abbey Simon, Oxana Yablonskaya, Boris Slutsky, Dmitri Rachmanov, Peter Basquin and Bernard Ringeissen. He has received bachelor’s degree from Department of Music, National Taiwan Normal University, and Master's degree in piano performance, a professional study diploma, a diploma in piano pedagogy from Manhattan School of Music in New York USA, and a DMA candidate in piano performance from Department of Music, City University of New York USA.

Eric Chen has received the enlightenment and advanced training of the complete music education system in the YAMAHA since he was a child, and has won the champions of various piano competitions during his studies in Taiwan (including: the divisions of elementary school, junior high school, senior high school, adults in Taiwan, the 2nd Chopin Taiwan, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, and Richard Clayderman); during his study in the United States, he also won many international awards (including: the third place in the 13th Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition in the United States, the first prize of Five Towns Music and Arts in New York Foundation, Inc., and the Young Artist Award of New York Artists International, Inc.). He has been performing concerts at the concert halls such as: Weill Hall of Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center in New York USA, Bosendorfer Hall in Vienna Austria, the Gotanda Cultural Center Hall in Tokyo Japan, Muramatsu Hall in Osaka, Concert Hall of Xiamen Art School, and Concert Hall in Wuhan Conservatory of Music in China. He usually received highest acclaims from music critics.

Eric Chen is one of the most active pianists in Taiwan nowadays. His various types of performances include piano recital, piano duo, piano four-hands, chamber music, piano concerto, and… etc., across the categories of both classical music and popular music. Eric has recorded and released twenty-five piano albums (including: popular and classical categories) so far, and he has performed in several major cities in Europe, America, mainland China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and … etc. He has also performed with several international musicians such as: Ensemble Berlin, the violinists Charlie Siem, Laurent Korcia, the flutist Judith Mendenhall, the clarinetist Paul Meyer, the pianists Chen Sa, Xu Hong and Adachi Tomohiro. He has been as the faculty at the "International Piano Music Camp, National DongHua University in Taiwan", the "2nd Trossingen International Music Festival in Germany" and "University of Wyoming International Music Festival in USA", also performed piano recitals and masterclasses, He also served as the committee member of the Music Talent Training Program of the Ministry of Culture Taiwan, the jury members in several major piano competitions in Taiwan, and the 4th Parnassos International Piano Competition in Mexico.

From May 2020, Eric grandly launched the Recital Project of Piano Sonata Series of "Absolute Beethoven: Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of L. van Beethoven". It is a total of eight series which lasts five years, and he plays a full set of 32 piano sonatas in eight series. Series 1 and 2 were held in that year (several well-known titled piano sonatas had been performed); Series 3 and 4 were held in 2021 (early piano sonatas were performed); Series 5 and 6 were held in 2022 (early and middle piano sonatas were performed); Series 7 were held in October 2023 (the middle and late piano sonatas were performed). Series 8 was held in 2025 (the last three piano sonatas were performed) as a perfect ending of the whole project. Eric currently has two piano chamber ensembles ("Artist Trio: Piano Eric Chen, Violin Nanette Chen, and Cello Ling-Yi Ou-Yang " and "Top Showdown Piano Duo: Eric Chen and Emily Chen"), which regularly perform in public and are dedicated to promoting various works of diverse styles.