Ray Chen, violin | 2020 Artistic Director
Julio Elizalde, piano

GRIEG: Sonata for Violin & Piano No. 2 in G major, Op. 13
SAINT-SAËNS: Sonata for Violin & Piano No. 1 in D minor, Op. 75
BACH: Chaconne from Partita No. 2 in D minor for Solo Violin, BWV 1004
DEBUSSY (arr. Roelens): Clair de Lune
RAVEL: Tzigane

The 2020 Laguna Beach Music Festival features Festival Artistic Director and internationally acclaimed violinist Ray Chen in solo and collaborative performances. With a media presence that enhances and inspires the classical audience, reaching out to millions through his unprecedented online following, Ray Chen is redefining what it means to be a classical musician in the 21st century. Chen’s remarkable musicianship transmits to a global audience that is reflected in his engagements with the foremost orchestras and concert halls around the world including Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl.

Signed in 2017 to Decca Classics, Ray Chen recorded an album with the London Philharmonic as a succession to his previous three critically acclaimed albums, the first of which (Virtuoso) received an ECHO Klassik Award. Profiled as "one to watch" by The Strad and Gramophone magazines, Chen has been featured in the Forbes list of 30 most influential Asians under 30, appeared in the major online TV series "Mozart in the Jungle," solidified a multi-year partnership with Giorgio Armani (who designed the cover of his Mozart album with Christoph Eschenbach), and performed at major media events such as France’s Bastille Day, the Nobel Prize Concert in Stockholm, and the BBC Proms.