陳毓襄 Gwhyneth Chen

2021 “People of the Year”, chosen by Taiwan’s National Theatre and Concert Hall’s Performing Arts Magazine, Gwhyneth Chen (陳毓襄) is a Taiwanese-American pianist who in 1993, won the biggest cash prize in the history of piano competitions ($100,000.00). Subsequent to the award, Mr. Pogorelich himself said of her talent, "She is too good to be true." The victory was broadcast internationally on CNN news. In recent years she has played joint concerts with Ivo Pogorelich in Switzerland and in Taiwan.

Born in Taiwan, Ms Chen emigrated to the United States with her family in 1980, where she continued her musical studies with Robert Turner, and Aube Tzerko. She attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. She received her Bachelor and Master of Music from the Juilliard School of Music under the tutelage of Martin Canin. While in New York, she also studied with Byron Janis and Yin Cheng-Zong.

At the age of 12, she was the first prize winner of the 50-state National Piano Competition, by the Music Teacher's National Association (MTNA). Three years later she captured first prize again in the 50-state National Competition, setting a record by winning both Junior High and the Senior High Competitions. She continued to win Grand Prize in the International Piano Recording Competition, First Prize in the Bullocks National Piano Competition, and Grand Prize in the Young Keyboard Artists Association Competition which won her a grand piano.

Ms. Chen was a Finalist in the 1990 Tschaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow. She was also awarded “Best Lady Prize” for being the only female finalist and Alfred Cortot Special Prize. In 1992, she was the bronze medalist in the Prokofieff International Piano Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 1991 Gwhyneth was the first prize winner in the Thomas Richner International Piano Competition in New York. She was the grand prize winner of the International Web Concert Hall Audition Competition in 1999 in New York.

A leading Chinese musical figure, Gwhyneth Chen was included in the 1995 edition of One Hundred Most Successful Chinese People and appeared in a nationally televised gala concert at the Presidential Palace in the presence of President Lee Teng-Hui of Taiwan. In 2002, she was invited to perform and speak in Washington DC during Taiwan’s First Lady Wu Shu-chen's Peace Journey to the United States. In 2008 she performed at the inaugural festivities for the newly elected President of Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou. Ms. Chen represented her country with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Lu Shao-chia, as "Pride of Taiwan" at the countdown concert in the National Grand Theatre ("Steel Egg") in Beijing, China, to celebrate the 2008 Olympics. In 2018, she represented her country again as a soloist with the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra at the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

Ms. Chen's CD on the Chimei label, "Gwhyneth Chen Chopin Favorites", celebrating Chopin's 200th anniversary, won "Best Performance" at the Golden Melody Awards in 2011.

Ms Chen has appeared as a soloist with a number of orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Moscow Radio Symphony, Orchestre National de Cannes, Greenville Symphony, Bergen Philharmonic, Kyushu Symphony of Japan, Moscow State Philharmonic, Pasadena Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Aspen Music Festival Orchestra, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony, Orchestre Fresnes, Zagreb Philharmonic, and Lake Placid Symphonietta. She was engaged to play with the Miami Symphony Orchestra for six consecutive seasons under the direction of Manuel Ochoa. Ms Chen has collaborated with David Atherton and the Hong Kong Philharmonic on a tour of the United States and Canada, with Vladimir Fedoseyev and the Moscow Radio Symphony throughout North America and Mexico, and completed a tour of Taiwan with the Russian Philharmonic under Vladimir Ponkin. For the extravagant debut of the New Colorado Symphony, she was chosen as the first soloist performing the Tschaikovsky First Piano Concerto before a crowd of 15,000 at the McNichols Stadium.

In 1994, Ms Chen was the featured soloist at the opening concert of the season in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory with the Russian National Orchestra under Mikhail Pletnev performing the Rachmaninoff Third Piano Concerto. She was then invited for six consecutive seasons by the Moscow State Philharmonic under the direction of Vladimir Ponkin to perform at the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory and Tschaikowsky Hall. In 1999, she made her New York debut at Alice Tully Hall of Lincoln Center.

In 2019, Ms Chen premiered the Galina Ustvolskaya Piano Concerto No. 1 in New York with the Symphony of the City of New York. In 2017, she premiered Ye Xiaogang’s Scent of the Green Mango for Piano and Orchestra in the U.S. with the The Orchestra Now (TON) at Fisher Center of Performing Arts in New York. She recently premiered Beethoven Piano Concerto in D Major (after the Violin Concerto by the composer) with NTSO in Taiwan. In 2010, Chen performed the complete Chopin Nocturnes at the Chopin Festival in Taiwan, commemorating Chopin's 200th Anniversary. In 2011 she performed the twelve Transcendental Etudes of Liszt for the 200th anniversary of Liszt. In 2013, she performed the complete Rachmaninoff Preludes in one concert. In 2021 she performed the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto cycle in one day (with the exception of Piano Concerto No. 4) with the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra.

Her extensive concertizing career has thrilled audiences in halls such as the Kennedy Center, San Francisco's Davies Hall, Disney Concert Hall, the Los Angeles Music Center, Vancouver's Royal Theater, Victoria's Orpheum Theatre, Herkulessaal of Munich, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Tschaikovsky Hall of Moscow, and Debussy Hall in Cannes. She has been on solo recital tours in Croatia in the Dubrovnik Music Festival as well as Estonia in the Eduard Tubin Music Festival. She has given recitals at the prestigious Chopin Festivals in Mallorca (Spain), Duszniki (Poland), and Hannover (Germany).

A frequent benefactor of charitable events, Ms. Chen performed a benefit concert with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra for the Calgary Drop-in Center in Canada and was named Honorary Citizen of Calgary. She gave a Disaster Relief Concert for the 2011 Japan tsunami in collaboration with Buddhist Tzu Chi Organization of Northern California. She has also donated her talents to concerts for the American Cancer Society, the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, and the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association's branches.

In 2013 Gwhyneth was the recipient of the inaugural Distinguished Humanitarian Award, presented by the Hsuan Hua Foundation of Taiwan. She was cited for her contribution to the integration of arts and spirituality. In 2014 she was awarded the Filiality Award given by Taiwan’s Filiality Association, which names annually one exemplar of the highest expression of traditional Chinese culture. In 2018, she was the commencement speaker for the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles.

Gwhyneth Chen is a Steinway Artist who was featured in the 2017 global promotional video for the innovative Steinway SPIRIO, the world’s finest high resolution player piano.