Violinist／Chieh-Wei Chang

Born in Taipei, Mr. Chang started learning violin at the age of four. Thereafter, he was taught by Shu-De Li and was instructed by a well-known violinist, Nai-Yuan Hu who won the first prize in Queen Elisabeth Competition in 1985 for a long time. Mr. Chang was the only student taught by Shu-De Li when he studied at the Guangren Catholic Elementary School and the Kuang Jen Catholic High School and received exceptional grades.

Mr. Chang than entered the National Taiwan University of Arts. During this study period, he assumed the position of concert master for two years and led the orchestra to achieve quite a few performances. Mr. Chang won 1st prize in a concerto competition, and also performed Sibelius violin concerto solo with the symphony orchestra for the Taiwan University of Arts in the cultural center of Taipei County. In 1999, Mr. Chang won 1st prize in Taipei county violin competition and 2nd prize in Taiwan national violin competition.

Subsequently, Mr Chang was the first one to graduate from the string department with honors. from the National Taiwan University of Arts. In 2000, he participated in the entrance audition for the Taipei National University of the Arts with only two admission slots, and was successfully accepted by the Taipei National University of the Arts.

During his school time, Mr. Chang has received numerous awards of excellence in solo concerto from competitions held by the Taipei National University of the Arts, and performed Paganini caprice and played violin solo with the Orchestra of Taipei University of the Art. With outstanding grades, Mr. Chang served as the concert master of orchestra for two years and concert master for the opening ceremony concerts held by the Taipei National University of the Arts. Mr. Chang has also performed with renowned conductor Lu-Shao Shia and pianist Kong-Kuan Chen.

After his graduation, Mr. Chang won a scholarship to New York for advanced studies. In the United States, he trained under Lucie Robert at the Mannes Musical College, worked with member of Orion String Quartet, and continued learning from violinist Nei-Yuan Hu.

During the college period, Mr. Chang has actively participated in chamber music, Baroque Orchestra, and solo performances. He has performed in various concert halls, churches, and art centers in New York. He has also received a scholarship to attend the Aspen Music Festival and obtained the qualification to attend performances by the AAC Orchestra, which only recruits brilliant musicians from Asia.

After returning to Taiwan, in addition to become involved in teaching and performing, Mr. Chang has taken advantage of his expertise in website design and music to establish a website with the goal of introducing outstanding musicians in Taiwan and Asia to the world. The name of the website is Taiwan Classical Music Net ( www.t-classical.com ). The Taiwan Classical Music Net now has 50,000 members domestically and abroad as well as 90,000 Facebook fans. T-classical.com is one of the top visited website for people who are fond of classical music. Regarding to performance achievements, Mr. Chang has participated in different fields of music such as orchestra, jazz, pop music, and soundtrack production. Mr. Chang has also performed violin solo in the premier of modern musical opera produced by Peking Opera Master Hsing-Guo Wu and received favorable comments.