Ray Chen is well-known internationally as an up-and-coming violinist. With a friendly, approachable attitude and a passion for spreading the love of classical music, he is destined to join the iconic ranks of Yo Yo Ma and Lang Lang. When I caught up with Chen over the phone recently, he was in Caracas, Venezuela, invited by Conductor Christian Vásquez to play with the kids from El Sistema. When he comes to Santa Barbara on Wednesday, October 21, as part of UCSB’s Arts & Lectures series, Chen will be playing pieces by several composers including Beethoven, Saint-Saëns.
Tell me more about your experience in Venezuela. They have 20+ youth orchestras there and I’m playing with the Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra, doing master classes every day. The concerts here are performed free of charge and are packed with people. I’m also visiting the nucleus program where the kids start at 3-4 years old.
You started with the Suzuki method right? What’s the difference between the El Sistema vs. the Suzuki method? The only thing that’s musicaly similar, is playing together. Suzuki’s method is great and I love him; it taught me how to enjoy music, be apart of something bigger and be humble. But in Venezuela, you have kids that are scraping by, living on $20 a month, so the government is trying to keep kids off the street by providing them with instruments. It’s in the curriculum now, and has become very competitive. I was told there are 700,000 kids playing classical music now and has it captured the hearts of so many people.