Zhen Chen

Pianist
Composer

Praised as a "technically proficient soloist with sparkling tone" (das Orchester, Germany) and for his "astonishing stylistic confidence" (Piano News, Germany), multi-award-winning Chinese-American pianist and composer Zhen Chen has performed as a soloist and chamber music artist at prominent venues across the United States, Europe, and China. These include Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium, Lincoln Center's David Geffen Hall, Preston Bradley Hall at the Chicago Cultural Center, the China National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, and the Jaguar Shanghai Symphony Hall. His live performances and recordings have been broadcast by France's Radio Classique, Austria's Radio Klassik, Chicago's WFMT 98.7, Princeton's WPRB 103.3, WCNY Classic FM, and China Central Television.

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As a soloist, Zhen has worked with the Chamber Orchestra Mannheim in Germany (Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester) under the batons of the prominent French conductor Paul Meyer and the internationally acclaimed Austrian conductor Thomas Rösner, interpreting Mozart's quintessential piano concertos, including Nos. 15, 20, 21, and 24. Zhen's "fresh, spontaneous, natural and warm" (Pizzicato, Belgium) performance of Mozart's Piano Concertos has been featured on Europe's leading classical concert video streaming service, Symphony.Live. His recording of Mozart's only two piano concertos in minor keys, K. 466 and K. 491, has been nominated for Best Concerto Recording at the 2026 International Classical Music Awards (ICMA). 

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Recent performances and projects include Zhen's debut at the Berliner Philharmonie with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra (Berliner Symphoniker), performing George Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F major, a solo appearance with the Beethoven Philharmonie at the Casino Baden and the Brahms Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna, rediscovering Beethoven's esoteric Piano Concerto No.0 in E-flat major, WoO 4, and a recording collaboration with the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz under the baton of British-Swiss conductor Howard Griffiths, playing Mendelssohn's monumental piano concertos.

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As an enthusiastic chamber musician, Zhen Chen has worked with eminent violinists such as Maxim Vengerov, Cho-Liang Lin, and Elmira Darvarova, as well as outstanding instrumentalists from the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, in both concert and recording engagements. He has served as an official collaborative pianist for the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition (SISIVC) and the International Music Competition Harbin (IMCH). In the 2025 season, he toured Europe with the Vienna-based Glière String Quartet, presenting an all-Mozart chamber music program.

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Zhen Chen also wears the hat of a performer-composer who bridges Eastern and Western sensibilities and musicality. His cross-cultural and cross-genre compositions are crystallized in the albums ERGO: New Music for Piano and Chinese Folk Instruments (Navona/Naxos, 2017) and On & Between: New Music for Pipa and Western Ensembles (Navona/Naxos, 2018). The featured music video for Turpan Tango, a hit from his album ERGO, has garnered over 1 million views across platforms. The album On & Between won the Global Music Awards' Gold Medal for Best Show, along with honors for Best Album and Best Instrumentalists. As an avid recording artist, Zhen has been a voting member of The Recording Academy (the Grammys) since 2017.

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Zhen Chen received a bachelor’s degree in piano performance from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and a master’s degree in piano performance under Arkady Aronov at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where he also earned a master’s degree in collaborative piano and chamber music with Heasook Rhee. He joined the piano and chamber music faculty of the Manhattan School of Music Precollege in 2022 and was inducted into the Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame in 2023.

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