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, Carnegie Hill Concerts, Delirium Musicum, Frisson Ensemble, New York Classical Players, and Sejong Soloists. His performances have taken him around the world in festivals such as Carbondale Arts in Colorado, Chamber Music Society of the Carolinas, Málaga Clásica in Spain, 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 performs with Los Angeles Philharmonic and Princeton Symphony. He has collaborated with Chee-Yun Kim, David Cohen, Frank Huang, Nicholas Cords, Pedro R. Díaz, Daniel Phillips, Matthew Lipman, Renée Fleming, Sasha Sitkovetsky, Josu De Solaun, Carol Wincenc, as well as the Volta Piano Trio and Argus, 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”, Tyondai Braxton and Metropolis Ensemble’s “Telekinesis”, 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”, garnered worldwide acclaim and multiple awards.