About:

Violist Mike Chen joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2018. He was Associate Principal Violist of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra from 2012 to 2018, including serving five seasons as Acting Principal Violist, and was a member of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra from 2003 to 2012. He has also performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, joined the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra on its 2017 European Festivals Tour, and has performed many times as an A-list substitute violist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. As a violinist of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago from 1992 to 1994 and Co-Concertmaster from 1994-1995, Mike has performed under the batons of prominent musicians including Georg Solti, Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, and Pierre Boulez, among others. As a chamber musician, Mike has performed with David Halen, Misha Dichter, Garrick Ohlsson, and Branford Marsalis. In the summer of 2023, he served as Principal Viola at the Bellingham Festival of Music.

Mike received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Northwestern University (Violin Performance M.Mus 1995, B.Mus 1993), studying violin with Blair Milton. In 1999, he began playing the viola and studied with Li-kuo Chang. His other teachers included Michael Strauss, Peter Slowik, Keith Conant, and Baird Dodge.

As a seasoned teacher, Mike has extensive experience from coaching chamber music as well as leading sectionals, working with students at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Civic Youth Ensembles, Chicago Symphony Youth Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Indianapolis Side-by-Side Orchestra, and the Webster University Community Music School. Mike has 27 years of private teaching experience on both violin and viola, with students being accepted to the Cleveland Institute of Music, Indiana University, Mannes School of Music, Chicago Symphony Youth Orchestra, and Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, National High School Honors Orchestra, and the Northwestern University School of Music Summer Violin Institute. Mike is a faculty member of the ESME String Camp, a chamber music summer camp based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

As a conductor, Mike received his Master’s degree in orchestral conducting from Northwestern University (M.Mus 1999), studying with Victor Yampolsky and Mariusz Smolij, and received a fellowship for ten weeks of intensive study at the American Conducting Academy in Aspen, Colorado (2008). His other conducting teachers include Gilbert Varga, David Zinman, and Murry Sidlin. Mike has conducted various groups including the Detroit Symphony Youth Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, Indianapolis Side-by-Side Orchestra, Webster University Community Music School Orchestras, Northwestern University Chamber Orchestra, and the North Shore Chamber Orchestra, among others.