Weiyin Chen | Life After Juilliard

Postcards From Juilliard Alums

Upon graduating from Juilliard’s centennial class, I worked with Leon Fleisher and was immersed in the world of piano, enjoying recording, teaching, traveling, and performing, including with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra and touring with the Camerata RCO—Musicians of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. At the same time, I was yearning for more ways to connect and communicate through music. I teamed up with my father, a renowned surgeon who also travels with an international team to provide charity surgeries to those in need around the world. Our Music & Medicine humanitarian campaign started in India with the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation, where I gave master classes to local musicians and performed a charity concert. As a result of our work, more than 100 surgeries were performed free of cost for those who would not otherwise have had access to such treatments. Our last mission was in Peru just before the pandemic, and I hope to continue creating more campaigns now that we are able to travel with ease again.

During the pandemic, I embarked on another creative adventure. This past April, for my debut with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, playing the Schumann Piano Concerto under Eliahu Inbal, I designed my concert dress and it was featured in Vogue Taiwan.

My years at Juilliard formed the foundation of who I am, and now I make New York my home. I’m excited to see how we will keep revolutionizing and thriving in artistic life in this extraordinary city and beyond. I’m looking forward to making my U.S. debut with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra on February 22, and I also have concerts in Taiwan and Europe this season. Music has given me wings in more ways than I ever imagined. I’m curious where it will continue to take me as I fly.

Weiyin Chen (BM ’05, piano)