Intro Classical 2010 – 2011
Born in Oslo, Norway, in 1985, violinist Catharina Chen is already well known in her native country due to her numerous prizes, prestigious awards, well-attended radio and television appearances and profiled concert performances, both in recital and as soloist with orchestra.
She began studying violin with her father at the age of five. A graduate of Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo, a leading institution in Norway, where she studied with Alf Richard Kraggerud and Stephan Barratt-Due, she recently completed her postgraduate studies with the renowned Professor Eduard Schmieder in the Artist Diploma / Master Program at Temple University in Philadelphia.
A 1st prize winner in consecutive national violin competitions in Norway in 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2002, Catharina headed for the Gnessin International Violin Competition in Moscow in 2003, where she won the Grand Prize, a prize for the “Best Artistic Performance” and a prestigious invitation to Young International Artists iPalpiti program. In 2007 she won 2nd Prize at the Jeunesse Musicale International Violin Competition in Bucharest, Romania.
Catharina is recipient of several awards, among them the prestigious Oslo City Artist Prize in 2004, which she was the youngest ever to be awarded. In 2009 Catharina was selected for Rikskonsertene / Concert Norway’s launch program INTRO Classical.
In her native Norway, Catharina has had numerous appearances as soloist and chamber musician, including four concerts at the Bergen International Festival in 2008, in duo with her sister Sara. She has soloed with almost all the major, Norwegian orchestras, inclusive of Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. Abroad she has performed in a dozen countries all over the world, and soloed with orchestras like ZKO-Zurich Chamber Orchestra, iPalpiti Orchestra and the Shanghai, Quingdao, Beverly Hills and Dallas symphony orchestras.