A student of eminent pedagogues Aaron Rosand and Ida Kavafian at the Curtis Institute of Music, Tseng previously won first prizes at the Singapore International Violin Competition, Sarasate Violin Competition in Pamplona, Spain and the Isang Yun Violin Competition in Korea.
After his German debut with the Saarbrucken Radio Orchestra, the critic praised his performance of the Beethoven Violin Concerto: “Classically balanced without showing off; Sensitive, discreet nuances; Highly cultured sound; graceful and playful, relaxed elegance without attitude – Exemplary!”
Yu-Chien has appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Mariinsky theatre Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Belgium, Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Taiwan Philharmonic, China Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Sinfonia Varsovia and many others. He has worked with Maestros such as Valery Gergiev, Jiří Bělohlávek, Esa- Pekka Salonen, Osmo Vänskä, Jacek Kaspszyk, LU Jia and most recently with Mikhail Pletnev.
At the Tchaikovsky Competition, his winning performances in the final round featured two of the most iconic concertos in the violin repertoire, Tchaikovsky and Sibelius, attracting the attention of Maestro Valery Gergiev, who invited him to perform at the maestro’s festival in Mikkeli, Finland, as well as the White Night Festival in St. Petersburg and the Far East Festival in Vladivostok. He also performed both the Tchaikovsky and Brahms concertos with Gergiev and the Munich Philharmonic on their tour to Taiwan in November 2015 and the Mozart Violin Concerto No.4 in D Major at the M360 Festival, in Munich. Tseng has frequently performed in recital in Europe, America and Asia.
During the 2017/18 season, Yu-Chien performed on tour with the Russian National Orchestra and Maestro Pletnev and on a North America tour with the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra. After working with them on their Asia tour, he performed again with the Czech Philharmonic, in Prague, under the baton of Kahchun Wong.
In 2018/19 season, his last full season before his military service and the Covid outbreak, highlights included Penderecki’s Violin Concerto No.1 under the baton of Maestro Lawrence Foster as part of the composer’s 85th birthday celebrations in Warsaw, and his debut with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Budapest. He also performed with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in collaboration with the NDR Elbphilharmonie principals, under the baton of Tung-Chieh Chuang, and with the Tokyo Philharmonic for a five-concert engagement with Maestro Mikhail Pletnev.
In 2020, due to the restrictions of the pandemic, Benny was only able to give recitals and concertos in Taiwan, with orchestras such as the Taiwan Philharmonic Orchestra, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, and Kaohsiung Symphony Orchestra. He participated in the Taipei Music Academy & Festival and performed with violinist Cho-Liang Lin. In addition, he has received invitations from Vienna, Austria; Brandenburg, Germany; Budapest, Hungary; Singapore, Hong Kong and other regions and countries.
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Yu-Chien (Benny) pursued his studies in the Curtis Institute of Music from the age of 13. He plays the Antonio Stradivari 1709, ex“Viotti-Marie Hall” from the Chi-Mei Museum’s collections, on loan from the Powerchip Cultural Foundation.
