Born in Taiwan, Vivian Chen first met harp on a family trip to Vancouver, where later on became her home. The memory of the elegant harpist in blue silk dress, plucking out magical notes from her beautiful instrument, left a strong impression to the young girl.
Receiving the University of BC Medal, Vivian graduated first place from UBC School of Music in 2015, and continued on with Master of Music Harp Performance degree with full scholarship. She has just graduated this April.
Vivian is a student of Heidi Krutzen, the principal harpist of the London Philharmonia Orchestra. During the years, she also attended masterclasses with many of the world-class harpist such as Susann McDonals, Natalia Shamayeva, Isabelle Moretti, and Elizabeth Volpe. She also went to Paris and studied with Nicolaz Tulliez during the summer of 2014.
Vivian enjoys playing variety of genre and styles of music with different groups. She was the principle harpist of the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra for three years, and has had the opportunity to perform as guest principle harpist with many Vancouver-based ensembles throughout the years. In 2012, she made her first concerto debut with the Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra, performing Claude Debussy’s “Danse sacrée et danse profane.” Also that year, she performed the Canadian Premier of Tan Dun’s “TEA: A Mirror of Soul” with Vancouver Opera, and was invited back again as a guest principal harpist the next year performing “Tosca”.
In 2013, she performed Britten’s “A Ceremony of Carols” with Surrey Children’s Choir and UBC Women’s Choir. In the same year, she played “A Posy for the Christ Child”, a world premier by Derek Healey, with Vancouver Chamber Choir. The summer of 2015, Vivian was selected as principal harpist of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. Under the baton of Michael Francis, she performed and toured with the group across the country. In 2016, she performed a chamber concert, organized by the Postmodern Camerata Society, with her newly formed group Elysian Trio.
Last year, she was proud to bring Canadian Music back to Taiwan, performed Caroline Lizotte's "Suite Galactique for solo harp" in one of Taiwan's best performing halls, the Taiwan National Theater.
This year, Vivian performed both solo and chamber pieces in the Formosa New Wave concert at the 13th World Harp Congress in Hong Kong. She also enjoys playing Turandot with Vancouver Opera this past October.
In her free time, Vivian likes to interact with music from a different angle: practice conducting, writing composition, playing improvisations, and making harp covers of anime songs. She also enjoys needle felting and reading novel.
