Junyan Chen

Receiving Second Prize & The Marion Thorpe Silver Medal, Alexandra Dariescu Award and Yaltah Menuhin Award at the Leeds International Piano Competition 2024. Junyan Chen (b. 2000) emerges as a concert pianist, chamber musician, and collaborator with a wealth of experiences across diverse musical genres.

Her confident playing, characterized by virtuoso technique, warmth, and vibrancy, has appeared in venues such as the Wigmore Hall, KKL Lucerne, Brighton Dome, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Hall, Guangzhou Grand Theatre, Xiamen Concert Hall, and Takatsuki Gendai Gekjio, among others.

As a soloist, she has collaborated with the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra, and XinZhu Symphony Orchestra. Junyan has also performed and live-streamed on Classic-FM with Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 4, conducted by Edward Gardner, the Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra. An enthusiastic performer of contemporary music, she has collaborated with Hans Abrahamsen himself and performed his Piano Concerto with conductor Franck Ollu and Manson Ensemble. In addition, she was invited for ‘Arcadia,’ Eleanor Alberga’s music festival in 2022, recording and performing “Dancing with the Shadows” and “On a Bat’s Back I Do Fly,” with an album release in the near future. Her collaborative efforts extend to working with composers Mark Anthony-Turnage and Dominic Muldowney at the Folkestone New Music Festival.

Junyan’s debut solo album, “It’s Time,” recorded at the Royal Academy of Music in April 2022, was released by Linn Records on December 16, 2022. Strongly identifying with living composers exploring cultural identity through music, the four composers featured in “It’s Time” – Fazil Say, Unsuk Chin, Sofia Gubaidulina, and Eleanor Alberga – brilliantly absorb other genres and art forms while reflecting their lives, including the Turkish folk ballad, jazz, Russian poetry, and African dance.

After receiving her first Honours BMus degree, first Honours MA degree, and the Principal’s Award with a full scholarship supported by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) and the Bicentenary scholarship, Junyan continues her Advanced Diploma with a full scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music under Professor Joanna MacGregor CBE. She has been awarded Aud Jebsen Piano fellowship 2024-2025. Engaging in masterclasses with Pascal Roge, Thomas Kreuzberger, Paul Badura-Skoda, Christopher Elton, Tomas Vasary, Yevgeny Sudbin, Tamara Stefanovich, Adrian Brendel, and Claudio Martinez Mehner at Prussica Cove IMS 2023.

Junyan is represented by Askonas Holt.