Tu Ching Yun
Tu Ching Yun is a full-time Assistant Professor of Violin in the Department of Music at National Tsing Hua University. She previously taught violin and chamber music at the École Normale de Musique de Paris and served as Principal Second Violin of the Orchestre Colonne in Paris, France.
Tu graduated from the music programs of Guting Elementary School and Ren’ai Junior High School, where she studied with Yang Tzu-Hsien and Su Hsien-Ta. In 1991, she received the Ministry of Education’s “Scholarship for Gifted Students to Study Music in France” and continued her studies in France. In 1996, she received First Prizes in violin and chamber music from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where she studied with Gérard Poulet. She was the first Taiwanese student to graduate from the violin program of the conservatoire.
In 2000, she graduated from the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève with First Prize in violin performance and the Special Jury Prize, studying under violinist and conductor Jean-Pierre Wallez. She later received the Zaleski Scholarship to study at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, where she earned the highest soloist diplomas in violin and chamber music under the guidance of Devy Erlih.
In 1999, Tu won First Prize and the Audience Prize at the Chausson International Violin Competition in France. In 2000, she received First Prize at the 11th European Union Music Competition, held at UNESCO in Paris, and was invited to perform at the Salzburg Festival. In 2008, she won Second Prize at the 7th Gérardmer-Kichompré International String Competition in France. She is particularly known for her profound interpretation and expressive performance of French classical and modern repertoire.
Tu has performed in major cities throughout France, as well as in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Finland, Estonia, Spain, Poland, South Korea, and Japan. She has performed Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande at Salle Ernest-Ansermet in Geneva; Bach’s Violin Concerto in Paris with the Taiwan-France Orchestra; French modern works with the Léon-Barzin Orchestra; Mozart’s Violin Concerto with the Brahms Chamber Ensemble and l’Ensemble les Arpèges; Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with Elisabeth Balmas; Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the Orchestre Symphonique Ingres in France; and Brahms’ Double Concerto for Violin and Cello with the Musiques en Seine Orchestra.
She has appeared three times at the Salzburg Festival in Austria: in 2000 at the Mozartsaal, and in 2002 and 2003 at the concert hall of Mirabell Palace. In 2005, she was invited to give a solo recital at the 28th Szymanowski Festival in Poland. In 2006, she performed works by contemporary Taiwanese composers in Berlin, Germany, together with oboist Hsieh Wan-Chen. In 2008, she was invited to give a solo recital at the 20th Estate Romana Festival in Italy, held at the ancient Roman Teatro di Marcello. In 2012, she was invited for the second time by the Tallinn City Government in Estonia to perform at the Suur Saal of the Tallinn Opera House.
Since 1998, Tu has been invited on multiple occasions by the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra and the National Concert Hall in Taipei to return to Taiwan for performances. She has given numerous concerts and masterclasses at cultural centers in Keelung, Hsinchu, Tainan, Penghu, Hualien, and other locations. In 2012, her performances were supported by the Chimei Foundation, which sponsored her use of a 1700 Italian violin by Gioffredo Cappa.