Chien-Kwan Lin

Biography

BM, MM with distinction, recipient, George W. Chadwick Medal, New England Conservatory; DMA, Performer’s Certificate, Eastman; Faculty member, Eastman (2002-).
Chien-Kwan Lin (b. 1972, Singapore) has appeared as soloist and guest artist with the New England Conservatory and Eastman Wind Ensembles, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Tanglewood Music Center Festival Orchestra, the New World Symphony, the Portland (ME) Symphony, the Eastman Philharmonia, as well as the Boston and Rochester Philharmonic Orchestras.

Mr. Lin’s performances have garnered tremendous praise from critics in New York and Boston. His critically-acclaimed Carnegie Hall debut recital prompted New York Concert Review to portray him as a performer “who has the passion and restraint and beautiful sense of line to take melody where it wants to go, fully and generously,” while the Boston Globe has lauded him for “displaying chops,” and has described his playing as “polished,” “charismatic,” and “appealing.”

Recent appearances by Mr. Lin have included recitals at the World Saxophone Congress, U.S. Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium, Saxorama Festival (Canada), Emerging Artists Series (Taiwan), as well as performances with the Fromm Players of Harvard University and the Formosa Chamber Music Society of New York. His recent six-cities concert/master class tour took him to some of Asia’s top conservatories, including National Taipei University for the Arts, Mahidol University (Thailand), as well as the Shenyang, Sichuan and Central (Beijing) Conservatories in China. In 2004, Mr. Lin was profiled on the cover of Saxophone Journal. His recording of Eastman colleague, David Liptak’s Serenade for Alto Sax & String Orchestra, which John Pitcher of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle called “brilliantly recorded,” is available on Bridge Records.

Since winning top prizes in Singapore’s National Music Competition four consecutive times (violin category), Chien-Kwan Lin has enjoyed a multi-faceted career. He won a Best Conductor Award at Singapore’s National Band Leaders Festival, and also worked for several years as a jazz violinist. In addition, Mr. Lin has appeared as orchestral violinist with northeastern groups including the New Hampshire Symphony, the Indian Hill Symphony, and the Hannover (NH) Chamber Orchestra.

Chien-Kwan Lin is currently Assistant Professor of Saxophone at the Eastman School of Music. He is an artist/clinician for Vandoren and Conn-Selmer instrument companies. Mr. Lin received his education from the New England Conservatory and Eastman. His teachers have included Ken Radnofsky and Ramon Ricker. He resides with his wife, pianist Pi-Lin Ni, in Rochester, New York.

Mr. Lin performs exclusively on Selmer instruments.