The violin virtuoso remaking classical music for the TikTok generation

How do you get to New York’s Carnegie Hall? In the celebrated words of Jack Benny: practice, practice, practice.

Ray Chen has just played Carnegie Hall for the fourth time, performing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor with the National Youth Orchestra of USA in July.

This week, he is playing recitals at the major concert halls of east coast Australia, accompanied by pianist Lee Dionne, with repertoire by Bach, Dvorak, Tartini and Franck.

Brisbane-raised violinist Ray Chen was hailed as a prodigy at age eight and has since cultivated a vast online following.Credit: Decca Records

But the practice part is hard, admits Chen.

“That’s the part where you’re isolated, and it’s very difficult to motivate yourself,” he says.

Growing up in the Brisbane suburb of Ascot, Taiwan-born Chen had one massive advantage: his mother, Christina, who was adept at both carrot and stick.

“She’d be like, ‘if you don’t want to, that’s fine, then just quit.’ And I would be like, ‘oh my gosh’... Pocket money was based off of how much I practiced.”

But because “not everyone has, you know, my mother” Chen created the app Tonic, which now has 300,000 users worldwide.

“Tonic motivates people by making it into a game, so like any video game you earn rewards, you level up, you can unlock customisation for your avatar,” he says.

“And it also adds a second layer of motivating people to practice, which is the social aspect.”

Users can livestream their practice sessions and comment on each others’ performances, while a Groups function helps them build friendships through the app.

Chen, 36, is one of classical music’s global superstars, a flamboyant virtuoso who has played with all the major symphony orchestras, and at events including France’s Bastille Day concert to 800,000 people.

He’s also a social media maestro, with 1 million followers on Instagram and 640,000 on TikTok. His videos are just as likely to be busking pranks or commentary on his Australian accent as they are to be concert footage.

As a result, Chen can fill the concert halls of QPAC and the Sydney Opera House even without the backing of an orchestra, despite classical music being “a niche market”.

“Before, it wasn’t seen as necessary for an artist to invest time into social media,” he says.

“The times have changed. I guess you don’t have to, but it is the most efficient way.”

At age eight, Chen appeared as a soloist with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, and was invited to perform at the opening celebration concert of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano – a turning point.

“I realised, if I can just play this wooden box and start going around the world, then this is what I want to do.”

At 15, he was accepted into the ultra-exclusive Curtis School of Music in Philadelphia; the city remains his home base. He won the Yehudi Menuhin (2008) and Queen Elisabeth (2009) violin competitions, and signed to Decca Classics in 2017.

Ray Chen performs with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at Opera House Concert Hall, July 2023Credit: Craig Abercrombie

Chen’s most recent album with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Player 1, includes music from games Pokemon Red and The Legend of Zelda alongside Austrian composer Korngold.

But his career is not without its naysayers, some accusing him of being more of a showman than an artist.

Chen says it took the “whiplash moment” of the pandemic for him to make peace with this, deciding he would measure his success by the amount of positive impact he could make on people through music.

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“I could do that by playing a concert to a room full of people. I could make a video, I can build a platform, I can record an album.

“And that’s when I stopped worrying about whether I was doing the right thing, which was very draining.

“All the critique that I was getting just kind of goes away.”

Speaking the day before the death of Giorgio Armani, Chen gives thanks for the 10 years of sponsorship he has enjoyed from the luxury atelier.

“It’s one less important thing you have to worry about, which is looking good on stage. When you’re playing the violin you’re moving your right arm a lot for the bow, some suit jackets can make you feel a bit stuck.”

He’s also getting used to a new violin. He recently had to return his Stradivarius to the organisation that lends them to young performers, the Nippon Music Foundation, but on his latest tour he’s trying out another one, made in 1727.

“We’re just stewards in the overall journey of the violin,” he notes.

“What makes a violin incredible is how it can capture the emotions.

“It can sound like hearty laughter, or in a solemn moment capture the stillness, where everyone is barely breathing. Not every violin is able to do that. In fact, most aren’t.”

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