Chloe Chua
Chloe Chua (蔡珂宜; Cài Kēyí) (born 7 January 2007) is a Singaporean violinist. She won first prize in the Junior division of the 2018 Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists alongside Australian Christian Li, and also won the 24th Andrea Postacchini International Violin Competition in Category A. She was the artist-in-residence of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons.
Chloe Chua 蔡珂宜 | |||||||
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 Chloe Chua performing at the 2018 Young Talents Project | |||||||
| Background information | |||||||
| Born | 7 January 2007 | ||||||
| Genres | Classical | ||||||
| Occupation | Violinist | ||||||
| Website | chloechuaviolinist.com | ||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Chinese | 蔡珂宜 | ||||||
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Chloe Chua (蔡珂宜; Cài Kēyí) (born 7 January 2007)[1] is a Singaporean violinist. She won first prize in the Junior division of the 2018 Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists alongside Australian Christian Li,[2][3] and also won the 24th Andrea Postacchini International Violin Competition in Category A.[4] She was the artist-in-residence of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons.
Early life and education
[edit]Chloe Chua was born in Singapore in 2007. She was introduced to the piano at the age of two and a half and to the violin at age four by her mother, a music educator. Her teacher was Yin Ke, who started teaching her at age four at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts[5] and School of Young Talents String Section, until she was about 17 years old. She currently studies with Professor Kolja Blacher at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin.[6]
Career
[edit]She has performed at the New Virtuosi Queenswood Masterclass, the Singapore Violin Festival, and Chingay Festival.[7]
Chua has also performed with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra,[8] Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra,[9] Salzburg Chamber Soloists, Russian National Youth Orchestra, Kammerorchester Basel[10] and the China Philharmonic Orchestra.[11] In 2018, she and Christian Li were both awarded first prize in the Junior division of the Menuhin Competition.[3]
After her Menuhin Competition performance, she was featured in the 2018 video "Is Ling Ling a GIRL?" by YouTubers Brett Yang and Eddy Chen of TwoSet Violin, the two visited Chua in September 2020 and held a master class session on Paganiniana, a piece by Nathan Milstein based on Paganini's Caprice No. 24.[12][13][14] Chua also took part in a "Ling Ling Workout" with Chen and Yang, released in March 2021,[15] and in a later video, "Our Secret Plan to Get Back into the Menuhin Competition (Ft. Chloe Chua)", released in May 2021.[16]
In 2024, Chua appeared with Scott Yoo in the PBS program Great Performances, "Now Hear This 'Rising Stars'", performing Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3.[17]
In February 2025, she and cellist Ng Pei-Sian of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra performed Brahms’s Double Concerto for Violin and Cello on their inaugural tour of Australia in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, conducted by Hans Graf.[18] In August 2025, Chloe Chua performed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rodolfo Barráez at the Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore.[19]
Education
[edit]As of May 2025, Chua's website states that she is studying at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin with Kolja Blacher.[20] Blacher is known for playing the 1730 "Tritton" Stradivarius.[21]
Instruments
[edit]Chua has played on violins such as an 1884 Vincenzo Postiglioni loaned from Peter Chew and a one-year loan on a 1625 Amati violin from Florian Leonhard Fine Violins.[2] She currently performs on a Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, Milan 1753, on loan from the Rin Collection.[22]
Musical appreciation
[edit]In a 2020 interview while in residence at the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Chua identified her favourite violinist as Itzhak Perlman and her favourite composer as Piotr Tchaikovsky; she identified the Bach Sonata No. 1 in G minor (BWV 1001) as the most difficult piece in her repertoire.[23] In an interview in 2022, Chua updated the list of her favourite violinists to also include Hilary Hahn and Maxim Vengerov, and from the previous LP recording era, the violinist Jascha Heifetz.[24]
Discography
[edit]Chloe Chua's album releases include:
- 2023: Vivaldi: The Four Seasons / Locatelli: Harmonic Labyrinth - with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra
- 2024: Butterfly Lovers & Paganini - with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra
- 2025: Mozart: Violin Concertos - with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Awards
[edit]- First prize winner, Junior division, Thailand International Strings Competition[7]
- 2015: Third prize winner, Junior division, Singapore National Piano and Violin Competition[7]
- 2016: First prize winner, Junior Category, Symphony 924 Young Talents Project[25]
- 2017: Third prize winner, 2nd Zhuhai International Mozart Competition for Young Musicians Violin Group A[4][7]
- 2017: First prize winner, Category A, 24th Andrea Postacchini Violin Competition[4][7]
- 2017: First prize winner, Junior division, Singapore National Piano and Violin Competition[7][26]
- 2018: First prize winner (joint 1st prize), Junior division, Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists[3]
References
[edit]- ^ Menuhin Competition (7 January 2022). "Chloe Chua performs Bach's Sonata in E major, BWV 1016, Adagio ma non tanto and Allegro" – via Facebook.
Happy 15th birthday, Chloe Chua! We can't believe how much time has passed since Chloe won joint Junior 1st Prize at the #Geneva2018 Competition
- ^ a b "VC Rising Star | Chloe Chua, 11 – Menuhin, Zhuhai, & Postacchini International Violin Competition Prizes". The Violin Channel. 15 October 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
- ^ a b c "Breaking | Joint 1st Prize Awarded at Junior Menuhin Competition". The Violin Channel. 20 April 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
- ^ a b c "Chua Chloe". Menuhin. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
- ^ "小提琴手蔡珂宜; 父母是她的指挥棒" [Violinist Chloe Chua: Parents are her conductor batons]. www.nafa.edu.sg. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
- ^ "IMG Artists Welcomes Violinist Chloe Chua to Our Roster for General Management". IMG Artists. 10 December 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f "Chloe Chua – Atlanta Festival Academy". Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
- ^ "A Little Mozart with Chloe Chua". Singapore Symphony Orchestra.
- ^ "Mendelssohn Violin Concerto". Weibo Video. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
- ^ "Festival der Nationen in Bad Wörishofen: Tickets, Termin, Programm und Anreise". Mindelheimer Zeitung. 3 October 2019.
- ^ 颜筱箐 [Yan Xiaoqing] (24 December 2019). "A celebration in strings". China.org.cn. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
- ^ "13-year-old violin prodigy Chloe Chua roasts TwoSet Violin – watch". 13-year-old violin prodigy Chloe Chua roasts TwoSet Violin – watch | Bandwagon | Music media championing and spotlighting music in Asia. 22 September 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
- ^ "小小大師指導「雙琴俠」挑戰帕格尼尼". 民視新聞網. 9 October 2020.
- ^ "小小大師指導雙琴俠挑戰帕格尼尼 | 娛樂星聞". star.setn.com. 30 September 2020.
- ^ "Ling Ling Workout Ft. Chloe Chua". YouTube. 20 March 2021.
- ^ Our Secret Plan to Get Back into the Menuhin Competition (Ft. Chloe Chua), 15 May 2021, retrieved 17 May 2021
- ^ PBS. Great Performances, "Now Hear This 'Rising Stars'". 12 April 2024.
- ^ "Singapore Symphony Orchestra to make 2025 Australian Debut with a Multi-city Tour", Association of Asia Pacific Performing Arts Centres (AAPPAC), February 2025
- ^ "Chloe Chua / Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto". Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Retrieved 22 August 2025.
- ^ Chloe Chua's channel on YouTube
- ^ Short biography, Deutschlandfunk, 6 November 2009 (in German)
- ^ "A gift to the universe". SSO: Page 8. February 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
- ^ 20 Questions with Chloe Chua! 10 December 2020 on YouTube, Singapore Symphony Orchestra
- ^ In conversation in Chloe Chua. medici.tv. 2022
- ^ Young Talents Project 2016 (PDF). p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
- ^ "National Piano & Violin Competition 2017". SSO: Page 4. 8 December 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
External links
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