YI-
CHUN LIN
D.M.A. Violinist
Violist
Pianist
YI-CHUN LIN has had a wide variety of musical experiences in her musical journey. As a violinist, she has performed as a soloist in places around the world, such as the Gewanhaus Concert Hall in Leipzig, the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in Houston, and the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall in Taiwan. Besides her thriving solo career, string quartet has been her ultimate passion in her chamber music pilgrimage. Her Hokapa String Quartet at the Mannes College in NY had received several invitations to perform at various events, such as the the "Young Artists Showcase" on WQXR in 2011 and the New School’s 75th commencement ceremony in the same year. Her passion for chamber music also embarked her musical exploration in various musical genres, including Classical, Early Music, Jazz, Pop, and contemporary music. After completing her degrees of Bachlor's Music and Master's Music at the Manhattan School of Music and the Mannes College in NYC with years of guidance by her mentor violinist Lucie Robert, she further entered the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to pursue her doctorate degree and to study with violinist Aaron Berofsky. She received her doctorate in 2015 and joined the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra as the associate principal second violin for the season of 2015-16. In 2018, she won the Principal Viola position at the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra and also joined the Dakota String Quartet.
With a belief that music has no boundaries, and that a good musician is never confined within a genre of music, she has been immersing herself in different genres of music besides the Classical and Early Music, such as the contemporary music, pop, folk, Jazz, and Improvisatory Music.
Being an explorer in music, she joined the Evita Quartet as a violist in 2013. The quartet soon won the Bronze medal in Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition of 2014 and recieved invitations to several world renowned chamber competitions, such as Premio Paolo Borciani in Reggio Emilia, Italy, and Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition in London, UK. They have worked with world-renowned composers, such as Thomas Adès and Bright Sheng. They also became the Ensemble-in-residence at the Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings in 2013, and were invited to the Banff Chamber Music program as a quartet-in-residence in the summer of 2014. With an adventurous mind, the Evita Quartet enjoyed any kind of musical projects, such as the Final Fantasy project "A New World: intimate music from FINAL FANTASY" in February, 2105, and the "Art of Time" project, in which they collaborated with Steven Page, John Mann, Andy Maize, and Craig Northey on the Beatles music. In 2018, she had a privilege of being a fellow artist at Bang on a can music festival, from which she received a lot of creative inspirations. In the same year, she founded the Sioux Falls Chamber Music Collective in hope of creating more artistic dimensions in a collaborative way to reach out to more people in the world (https://www.sfcmcollective.com/).
"...Die exzellente Solistin Yi-Chun Lin spielt mit vollem, rundem Ton in allen Lagen, der wunderbar weit trägt. Die Geigerin beweist große Musikalität und lässt es auch an natürlicher und temperamentvollen Virtuosität nicht fehlen." - Leipziger Volkszeitung vom 27.10.2010
The excellent soloist Yi-Chun Lin played with a full, round tone, which carried wonderfully far, in all registers. The violinist displayed great musicality, and also left no lack of natural and lively virtuosity.
Being inspired by harpsichordist Joseph Gascho and violinist Aaron Berofsky from the Univesrity of Michigan, she started her exploration in Early Music during her doctoral studies in Ann Arbor. After discovering the incredibly intriguing and innovative language of the Early Music, she began introducing the music to the community in her outreach music series at several senior homes in the neighborhood. In the summer of 2015, she was invited to the Baroque Performance Institute at Oberlin, OH, as a full scholarship recipient. She also gave a recital as the Baroque violinist in the Roseland Trio with Elena Tsai and Debra Longman in Twin Cities Baroque Early Music Festival on August 20, 2015, in Minneapolis, MN.
"What the world is saying to us human beings is, 'Don't stick to the old ways, learn to think anew.' And that's what musicians do every day."
- Daniel Barenboim
Besides her background as a violinist and violist, she is also a pianist who enjoys collaborating with both professional and amateurs musicians. As the winner of the Taiwan National Yamaha Piano Competition in 2013 and the 24th Annual Kawai International Piano Competition in 2001, she has received many invitations to perform around Taiwan, including her collaboration with the Ocarina Philharmonic Association of Taiwan in 2010.
What does she have to say:
Like all other things in life, music is not about showing off, how many competitions we have won, or how much compliments we have gotten. It is about an attitude towards life and other people around us.
We learn to tumble, to fail, to reconstruct, to experiment, to create, and most importantly- to share what we have to offer to the world no matter how small it seems.