Phuket International Violin and Chamber Music Masterclasses 2025
Faculty
Prof Christoph Schickedanz (Germany)
Hamburg University of Music
Prof.Chinn-Horng Nanette Chen (Taiwan)
Professor of violin at the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) & Director of the NTNU Music Center
Nanette Chen is a Taiwanese violinist. Sheis currently professor of violin at the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU)and director of the NTNU Music Center.She is also the founder of the NTNU String Ensemble.
She is a national treasure and a role model for all Taiwanese people.
Chen was born in Tainan, Taiwan, in 1962. She began playing the violin at the age of 5. She studied with Cheng Zhao-ming and Li Shu-de in Taiwan, and then went on to study at Indiana University and the University of Maryland. She received her doctorate in violin performance from the University of Maryland in 1990.
Chen has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Taiwan and abroad. She has appeared with the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, the Kaohsiung Symphony Orchestra, and the New York City Symphony Orchestra. She has also given recitals in the United States, Europe, and Asia.
In addition to her performing career, Chen is also an active teacher and clinician. She has taught at the National Taiwan Normal University since 1990. She has also given masterclasses and workshops at universities and conservatories throughout the world.
Chen is a recipient of numerous awards, including the National Taiwan Music Award, the Golden Horse Award for Best Original Film Score, and the Taipei Music Award. She was named one of Taiwan’s “Top 10 Outstanding Women” in 2000.
Chen is a respected figure in the Taiwanese music community. She is known for her virtuosity,her musicality, and her dedication to teaching. She is an inspiration to many young Taiwanese musicians.
Nanette Chen is a true pioneer in Taiwanese music. She has broken down barriers for women in music and has inspired generations of young musicians.
Prof Hong Wang (China)
Violin professor at the Beijing Central Conservatory and at the Beijing International Music and Art Education Base (ICMA), Distinguished Mentor for “Innovative Solo Talents” at the Beijing Central Conservatory, member of the Chinese Musicians’ Association, Secretary General of the Musicological Society of the Chinese Musicians’ Association and Board Member of the Chinese Chamber Music Society.
In August 2023, Prof. Wang Hong was appointed as violin professor at Yehudi Menuhin School Qingdao, and at the end of the same year he was appointed as the first director of the school’s violin pedagogy department.
Prof. Wang Hong who was taught by the renowned violin teacher Prof. Wang Zhenshan, graduated from the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music with honors in orchestral instruments in 1988. After graduation, he joined the China Broadcast Symphony Orchestra as principal 2nd violin. Since July 1999, he has been teaching at the Beijing Central Conservatory and studied violin pedagogy with the famous Chinese violin pedagogue Prof. Lin Yaoji. During his teaching career, he was active as 2nd violinist in the string quartet of the Central Conservatory and took part in concerts with this ensemble at the Beijing International Music Festival and the Memphis Modern Music Festival (USA).
The quartet was also taught in master classes by renowned musicians such as Isaac Stern, Mstislav Rostropovich and the Kodály String Quartet Hungary. He was also deputy second concertmaster of the second violins in the China Philharmonic Orchestra.
Prof. Wang Hong has been repeatedly invited as a juror for major international and national violin competitions, including the Schönthal Monastery International Violin Competition (Germany), the finals of the Stradivarius International Youth Violin Competition (USA), the CCTV Piano and Violin Competition, the Guangya Violin Competition Chengdu and the Beijing Yibaihui International Art Festival Violin Competition. He also serves as artistic director and lecturer at masterclasses such as the Kloster Schönthal International Masterclass, the London Bridge International Music Masterclass (UK), the European String Teachers Association Masterclasses Spain, the Singapore International Violin Art Festival, the Zhuhai String Masterclass, the Qingdao International String Masterclass, the HKIVS Mintz International Violin Masterclass and the Hangzhou Liangzhu International Violin Art Festival. He also regularly holds public masterclasses at institutions such as the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, the Macao Conservatory, the Xinghai Conservatory of Music, the Wuhan Conservatory of Music, the Sichuan Conservatory of Music, the Tianjin Conservatory of Music, the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music and the Xi’an Conservatory of Music. From June to August 2020, he gave a specialist lecture at the Philharmonic Society on the subject of “On the interpretation of Mozart’s violin concertos”.
Prof. Wang Hong’s students have achieved outstanding results in numerous international and national competitions, including the Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition, the Louis Spohr International Violin Competition (Germany), the Kloster Schönthal International Violin Competition (Germany), the Zhuhai Mozart International Youth Music Competition, the Andrea Postacchini International Violin Competition (Italy), the Cooper International Junior Violin Competition (USA) and the National Youth Violin Competition of the Ministry of Culture. His student Shihan Wang has received several certificates of honor and awards from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China.
In addition to these competition successes, graduates from Prof. Wang Hong’s more than 20 years of teaching have taken up positions at music academies, art academies and in renowned national and international symphony orchestras worldwide.