Lyda chen biography examples

Festivals are a-plenty these days now that most covid-related restrictions have been lifted and concert venues have opened up to full capacity.

Maybe it’s also as one grows older; one prefers more mellow sounds. My father had to flee from China and his parents finally agreed to let him study music  – which was unthinkable in China in the 1930s and 40s. And I had a fantastic time in school! He was also doing some viola – that was his love.

And it is – it’s a certain logical way of thinking that helps you deal with so many aspects of today’s life. But when it comes to really listening and being totally involved, it has to be classical music. Of course, I love some pop music and indie rock – I really enjoy it. And so I quit the violin for a really long time. 

Then when I turned 27, my father said to me, I have a present for you – would you like a viola?

She has been invited to the Verbier Festival, La Roque d’Anthéron and Les Folles Journées de Nantes or Tokyo, as well as to the Festspielen in Salzburg and Progetto Argerich in Lugano.

She performs chamber music in venues such as Tokyo Triphony and Sumida Halls, Teatro Colon, Salle Pleyel, the Salzburg Mozarteum and Shanghai Grand Theater, and performs as a soloist at the Tonhalle in Zürich.

She is invited to play in several orchestras, Japan New Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra della RSI, the China All Star Orchestra as well as the Western Eastern Divan Orchestra,

and gives viola and chamber music master classes in Spain, France, China and Latin America.

In 2019, Lyda Chen Argerich founded Arch Music Academy, whose projects in China, Europe and Latin America favor a multidisciplinary approach to the practice of music and the instrument.

Among the recordings made for the EMI at the Lugano Festival are the quartets of Beethoven, Dvorak, Schumann, Faure, as well as the quintets of Franck, Chostakovich, Zarebsky, Granados, alongside Ivry Gitlis, Gabriela Montero, Mischa Maisky and Martha Argerich.

Née à Genève, Lyda étudie le violon au Conservatoire de Genève dans la classe de Ayla Erduran puis suit l’enseignement du Professeur Lin Yao Ji au Conservatoire Central de Beijing.

They were in that universe every day – their fathers are musicians too and they were touring with her. I didn’t grow up with my mom. So, we just study a bit of everything and then when we turn 19 or 20, we have to make up our minds about what we want to do. It’s the best time when you’re between 16 and 20 – making lots of friends and going out.

What usually stimulates that part of the brain might be gambling or drinking – but music does exactly the same. It’s amazing how I can be in a concert hall with 1,900 other people and yet still lose myself completely in the music.

LCA: I do have a preference for classical music. So my dad said, if you can play in a string quartet or you can play second violin, you will be so happy and have such pleasure from it.

A lot of musicians, producers and concert organizers are really trying to make classical music more attractive for everyone, and not just for some kind of elite.