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Chloe Chua (蔡珂宜; Cài Kēyí) (born 7 January 2007)[1] is a Singaporean violinist. She won first prize in the Junior division of the 2018 Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists alongside Australian Christian Li,[2][3] and also won the 24th Andrea Postacchini International Violin Competition in Category A.[4] She was the artist-in-residence of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons.

Early life and education

Chloe Chua was born in Singapore in 2007. She was introduced to the piano at the age of two and a half and to the violin at age four by her mother, a music educator. Her teacher was Yin Ke, who started teaching her at age four at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts[5] and School of Young Talents String Section, until she was about 17 years old. She currently studies with Professor Kolja Blacher at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin.[6]

Career

She has performed at the New Virtuosi Queenswood Masterclass, the Singapore Violin Festival, and Chingay Festival.[7]

Chua has also performed with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra,[8] Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra,[9] Salzburg Chamber Soloists, Russian National Youth Orchestra, Kammerorchester Basel[10] and the China Philharmonic Orchestra.[11] In 2018, she and Christian Li were both awarded first prize in the Junior division of the Menuhin Competition.[3]

After her Menuhin Competition performance, she was featured in the 2018 video “Is Ling Ling a GIRL?” by YouTubers Brett Yang and Eddy Chen of TwoSet Violin, the two visited Chua in September 2020 and held a master class session on Paganiniana, a piece by Nathan Milstein based on Paganini‘s Caprice No. 24.[12][13][14] Chua also took part in a “Ling Ling Workout” with Chen and Yang, released in March 2021,[15] and in a later video, “Our Secret Plan to Get Back into the Menuhin Competition (Ft. Chloe Chua)”, released in May 2021.[16]

In 2024, Chua appeared with Scott Yoo in the PBS program Great Performances, “Now Hear This ‘Rising Stars‘“, performing Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3.[17]

In February 2025, she and cellist Ng Pei-Sian of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra performed Brahms’s Double Concerto for Violin and Cello on their inaugural tour of Australia in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, conducted by Hans Graf.[18] In August 2025, Chloe Chua performed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rodolfo Barráez at the Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore.[19]

Education

As of May 2025, Chua’s website states that she is studying at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin with Kolja Blacher.[20] Blacher is known for playing the 1730 “Tritton” Stradivarius.[21]

Instruments

Chua has played on violins such as an 1884 Vincenzo Postiglioni loaned from Peter Chew and a one-year loan on a 1625 Amati violin from Florian Leonhard Fine Violins.[2] She currently performs on a Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, Milan 1753, on loan from the Rin Collection.[22]

Musical appreciation

In a 2020 interview while in residence at the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Chua identified her favourite violinist as Itzhak Perlman and her favourite composer as Piotr Tchaikovsky; she identified the Bach Sonata No. 1 in G minor (BWV 1001) as the most difficult piece in her repertoire.[23] In an interview in 2022, Chua updated the list of her favourite violinists to also include Hilary Hahn and Maxim Vengerov, and from the previous LP recording era, the violinist Jascha Heifetz.[24]

Discography

Chloe Chua’s album releases include:

Awards

  • First prize winner, Junior division, Thailand International Strings Competition[7]
  • 2015: Third prize winner, Junior division, Singapore National Piano and Violin Competition[7]
  • 2016: First prize winner, Junior Category, Symphony 924 Young Talents Project[25]
  • 2017: Third prize winner, 2nd Zhuhai International Mozart Competition for Young Musicians Violin Group A[4][7]
  • 2017: First prize winner, Category A, 24th Andrea Postacchini Violin Competition[4][7]
  • 2017: First prize winner, Junior division, Singapore National Piano and Violin Competition[7][26]
  • 2018: First prize winner (joint 1st prize), Junior division, Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists[3]

References

  1. ^ Menuhin Competition (7 January 2022). “Chloe Chua performs Bach’s Sonata in E major, BWV 1016, Adagio ma non tanto and Allegro” – via Facebook. Happy 15th birthday, Chloe Chua! We can’t believe how much time has passed since Chloe won joint Junior 1st Prize at the #Geneva2018 Competition
  2. ^ a b “VC Rising Star | Chloe Chua, 11 – Menuhin, Zhuhai, & Postacchini International Violin Competition Prizes”. The Violin Channel. 15 October 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  3. ^ a b c “Breaking | Joint 1st Prize Awarded at Junior Menuhin Competition”. The Violin Channel. 20 April 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b c “Chua Chloe”. Menuhin. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  5. ^ “小提琴手蔡珂宜; 父母是她的指挥棒” [Violinist Chloe Chua: Parents are her conductor batons]. www.nafa.edu.sg. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  6. ^ “IMG Artists Welcomes Violinist Chloe Chua to Our Roster for General Management”. IMG Artists. 10 December 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  7. ^ a b c d e f “Chloe Chua – Atlanta Festival Academy”. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  8. ^ “A Little Mozart with Chloe Chua”. Singapore Symphony Orchestra.
  9. ^ “Mendelssohn Violin Concerto”. Weibo Video. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  10. ^ “Festival der Nationen in Bad Wörishofen: Tickets, Termin, Programm und Anreise”. Mindelheimer Zeitung [de]. 3 October 2019.
  11. ^ 颜筱箐 [Yan Xiaoqing] (24 December 2019). “A celebration in strings”. China.org.cn. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  12. ^ “13-year-old violin prodigy Chloe Chua roasts TwoSet Violin – watch”. 13-year-old violin prodigy Chloe Chua roasts TwoSet Violin – watch | Bandwagon | Music media championing and spotlighting music in Asia. 22 September 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  13. ^ “小小大師指導「雙琴俠」挑戰帕格尼尼”. 民視新聞網. 9 October 2020.
  14. ^ “小小大師指導雙琴俠挑戰帕格尼尼 | 娛樂星聞”. star.setn.com. 30 September 2020.
  15. ^ “Ling Ling Workout Ft. Chloe Chua”. YouTube. 20 March 2021.
  16. ^ Our Secret Plan to Get Back into the Menuhin Competition (Ft. Chloe Chua), 15 May 2021, retrieved 17 May 2021
  17. ^ PBS. Great Performances, “Now Hear This ‘Rising Stars‘“. 12 April 2024.
  18. ^ “Singapore Symphony Orchestra to make 2025 Australian Debut with a Multi-city Tour”, Association of Asia Pacific Performing Arts Centres (AAPPAC), February 2025
  19. ^ “Chloe Chua / Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto”. Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Retrieved 22 August 2025.
  20. ^ Chloe Chua’s channel on YouTube
  21. ^ Short biography, Deutschlandfunk, 6 November 2009 (in German)
  22. ^ “A gift to the universe”. SSO: Page 8. February 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  23. ^ 20 Questions with Chloe Chua! 10 December 2020 on YouTube, Singapore Symphony Orchestra
  24. ^ In conversation in Chloe Chua. medici.tv. 2022
  25. ^ Young Talents Project 2016 (PDF). p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  26. ^ “National Piano & Violin Competition 2017”. SSO: Page 4. 8 December 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2021.