Matthew Chen

MATTHEW CHEN graduated from The Juilliard School in the spring of 2018 under the instruction of Natasha Brofsky and and is continuing to pursue a Master of Music degree. Born and raised in Westlake Village, California, he began playing cello at the age of six, and was privileged to study with Ben Hong (associate principal cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic) for nine years.

Matthew is currently principal cellist of the Juilliard Orchestra and Juilliard Lab Orchestra, and has served as assistant principal of the Aspen Festival Orchestra. He also served as principal cellist of the National Taiwanese Symphony Orchestra.

A passionate chamber musician, Matthew has performed annually in Juilliard’s Chamberfest since 2015. This past January, he performed Brahms’ Sextet No. 2 with renowned violist and pedagogue Hsin-Yun Huang. In May 2018, Matthew and his clarinet trio commissioned and premiered a new work for clarinet trio by Tengku Irfan. He has performed in masterclasses for Lluís Claret, Frans Helmerson, and Joseph Kalichstein, and performed in venues such as Alice Tully Hall, David Geffen Hall, Chiesa San Domenico in Italy, and Muiden Castle in the Netherlands.

Matthew was development associate and librarian for the Versoi Ensemble’s 2018 U.S. Tour.