Catharina Chen's Website 
Born in Oslo, Norway in 1985, Catharina began studying violin at the age of 5 with her father. Since the age of eight she has soloed with all major orchestras in Norway, including the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, and Trondheim Symphony Orchestra. Well known to Norwegians through television and radio broadcast programs*, Catharina is the recipient of numerous awards, and the youngest musician in Norway ever to be awarded the highly respected and prestigious Oslo City Culture Prize.
A winner of numerous international competitions, Catharina holds a status as one of Norway’s most promising young classical musicians ( a 1st prize winner in consecutive national violin competitions in Norway in 1996-2002), earning major awards including The Norwegian Music Publishers’ Union “Prize of Honour” and the “Karoline Prize” for high achievement by in culture (2003). She has given solo and chamber concerts in Norway, Italy, China, Malaysia, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, France, and South Africa. Her solo appearances with orchestras include Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Beverly Hills Symphony Orchestra and Dallas Symphony orchestra in the USA, and in 2007, she toured as a soloist with Qingdao Symphony Orchestra.
A Graduate of Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo, a leading institution in Norway, where she studied with Arve Tellefsen and Henning Kraggerud, she continued her music education in the USA with the renowned Professor Eduard Schmieder, earning an Artist Diploma from Temple University in Philadelphia.
An iPalpiti artist since 2004, she has performed on the stages of Mozarteum Grosse Hall Salzburg, Carnegie Hall in New York, and was a featured soloist at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles in 2008. A popular artist in California, Catharina is invited as solo recitalist to numerous concert series, including THE PREVIEWS in Manhattan Beach, Sundays Live! Broadcast series in the Bing Theatre of the Los Angeles County Art Museum, and Music in the Mansion in Beverly Hills.
In her native Norway, Catharina continues to be an attraction for the important musical and government occasions: in May 2008, she was the only artist invited to perform at the opening of the prestigious Bergen International Arts Festival, with King and Queen of Norway in attendance.
In 2009, Catharina won the prestigious “Intro Classic” prize from State Concert Norway. During 2009-2010 seasons she gave solo recitals in New York, Washington, Milan, “Live Classical, Catharina with friends” in Tønsberg, and at Eurovision in Oslo. She has also toured with The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra” and Oslo Camerata in Spain and Brazil. Upcoming engagements include recital in Summit Music Festival (NY), three recitals in Holland Music Sessions, four weeks of touring across Norway, and world premiere of “the Moon” by Martin Romberg to be performed during Expo in Shanghai and a tour across China.
