Chieh-Fan Yiu, Violist

“RAVISHING ”

— The New York Times

   Triple-prized winner of the Lionel Tertis Competition, including Yuri Bashmet’s President Of The Jury Prize, Taiwanese-born Canadian Chieh-Fan Yiu has established himself as one of the most exciting violists on the international stage today.

   Dr. Yiu performs regularly with Brooklyn Art Song Society, Frisson Ensemble, PhiloSonia Music, New York Classical Players, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and Los Angeles-based ensemble Delirium Musicum. His performances have taken him around the world in festivals such as Carbondale Arts, Chamber Music Society of the Carolinas, Málaga Clásica, Music@Menlo, Moritzburg, Verbier, Aspen, and Sarasota Music Festivals. He is also a founding member of Ben Feng Music Festival in Taiwan, now in its ninth season. His solo engagements have included Aspen Festival Orchestra, New York Classical Players, Vancouver Academy Symphony, Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra, Stony Brook Symphony, and UBC Chamber Orchestra. He also regularly appears with Experiential Orchestra and Metropolis Ensemble. He has collaborated with, Colin Carr, David Cohen, Nicholas Cords, Pedro R. Díaz, Chad Hoopes, Alan Kay, Tessa Lark, Matthew Lipman, Frank Morelli, Daniel Phillips, Sasha Sitkovetsky, Josu De Solaun, Carol Wincenc, as well as the Volta Piano Trio and the Emerson, Formosa, and Tesla Quartets.

   As a violist of Ensemble For The Romantic Century, an acting/music ensemble that combine fully staged plays with live chamber music and elaborate visual designs, Dr. Yiu has starred in ‘The Dreyfus Affair’, 'Because I Could Not Stop: An Encounter With Emily Dickinson', and ‘Van Gogh’s Ear’, and has played more than 70 performances to date.

Dr. Yiu has served as artist-in-residence at the State University of New York Rockefeller Institute of Government, SUNY Schenectady, Empire State Youth Orchestra’s CHIME program, as well as Moores School of Music in University of Houston.

   As a recipient of the coveted Jerome L. Greene Fellowship, Dr. Yiu completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, followed by Doctorate of Music degree from Stony Brook University, having been under the tutelage of mentors like Toby Appel, Heidi Castleman, Hsin-Yun Huang, Kim Kashkashian, as well as the Emerson Quartet.

   Media coverage of Dr. Yiu’s performances and interviews include Music@Menlo Live, medici.tv broadcast from Switzerland, and BBC News in the UK. Dr. Yiu’s live recording of Nataliya Medvedovskaya’s Fantasy for Viola and Piano can be heard on WQXR Radio and ArkivMusic. He is also featured on Nataliya Medvedovskaya’s “Barcarolle” and New York Classical Players’ “Samuel Adler, Works For Chamber Orchestra.” His recording as a member of Delirium Musicum in their debut album with Warner Classics, titled “Seasons”, was released in spring of 2023 with worldwide acclaim.