Teacher Profile: Yanchi Chen

About Yanchi Chen

Yanchi Chen is a NoVA based Violin instructor and performer. She also teaches beginner Viola. As an instructor, she hopes to inspire her students of all ages to find what music means to them and gain a new form of expression through music study.

Yanchi began her own musical studies on the violin at the age of 4 in the studio of Derong Wang, one of the top music conservatories in China. As a child, she won many awards and competitions. During her middle and high school years, she was concertmaster of the Student Symphony Orchestra in her hometown.

Later at Shenyang Conservatory of Music, Yanchi studied with professor Xiaoyu Li, a student of Viennese world-class violinist Roswitha Randacher. She won scholarships three years in a row and received her Bachelor's Degree in Violin Performance in 2003. After graduating, she worked as a violinist in Beijing. As a member of the Classical Fashion Septette, she represented the Chinese Ministry of Culture and performed in the Netherlands for the Crown Prince. She also performed in Liechtenstein, Belgium, and some of the major cities in Switzerland.

She earned the Artist Diploma in Violin Performance at Duquesne University in 2019 and the Master's degree at Duquesne University in 2022, studying with Rachel Stegeman and Charles Stegeman. Both the Stegemans teach as Ivan Galamian did at Juilliard in New York City, and she would like to pass along that tradition. Yanchi also attended the Hartford Suzuki Institute summer teaching training program in Connecticut.

As a teacher, Yanchi works with a wide range of students -- from absolute beginners through adults and college prep students. She believes in customizing her approach to the individual and places emphasis on consistency of learning, no matter where the student is in their journey. She is a big fan of the Suzuki method, as well as traditional methods used in school ensemble settings. For her students who have ensemble opportunities available at their school, she loves to be a part of helping them perform in the group setting and work with other musicians, as well as solo. With strings, you have a full, social experience too, which makes being in the orchestra a lot of fun!

Yanchi has played with many local orchestras in Pittsburgh area before moving to Virginia. Currently, she lives in Great Falls with her husband, 4 children and a lovely dog. Along with a love of teaching and children, her philosophy is to ensure that all students in her lessons reach their fullest potential according to their ability.