Ying-Chen Chuang, Percussion

An enthusiast for contemporary music, percussionist Ying-Chen Chuang actively performs as a soloist as well as a member of various ensembles. Born and raised in Taiwan, she gathered her first percussion ensemble experiences with Ensemble 1002 in Taipei and got involved with several iconic music festivals for contemporary music, such as the Taipei International New Music Festival and the Innovation Series at the National Performing Arts Center. Followed by the founding of her percussion quartet Hanji, which symbolizes the spirit of Taiwan, she won the Third Prize at the Luxembourg International Percussion Competition in 2015 as a member of said quartet. Equally interested in orchestral playing, she won a two-year internship at the NSO Academy and performed numerous concerts as assistant percussionist in the Taiwan Philharmonic (NSO) and Taipei Chinese Orchestra. As an educator, she loves interaction with students and aims to introduce »contemporary music« to the younger generation, having also attained a bachelor degree with a pedagogical diploma at the National Taiwan Normal University. After starting her Master’s degree in Germany and Switzerland with a special focus on solo and ensemble percussion, she received scholarships from the Leiminer Foundation (DAAD Matching Fund) and the Taiwan Ministry of Education. In order to explore the possibilities of new music and meet musicians sharing the same passion, she performs regularly at various festivals such as the Lucerne Festival Academy, the Donaueschingen Music Days and the Darmstadt Summer Courses. Her teachers so far have been Jer-Huei Chen, Dennis Kuhn, Se-Mi Huang, Jens Knoop, Christian Dierstein, and Jens Ruland.