Veronica Yen/鋼琴家維若妮卡

Veronica Yen

Creative Mind with Poetic Spirit

'sensitive and poetic, ....courageous engagement with the music and a natural communication with her audience." - Chris Elton, Head of Keyboard at Royal Academy of Music

Educational background

Graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London with ‘Distinctions’ in her recitals, Veronica is much appreciated by her sensitive, creative and emotionally engaging performances. While reading Art History and Architecture History at Edinburgh University, Veronica won various piano competitions including the 1st prize and contemporary music award at the International Students’ Piano Competition in Holland, where she performed Grieg's Piano concerto in the final and received a standing ovation. Veronica studied with Professor Patsy Toh and Joanna Macgregor at RAM, with Peter Evans in Edinburgh, and with Professor Irina Zaritskaya and Janusz Piotrowicz privately. As a result of her musical achievements, Veronica was named one of the 'Best Youth Overseas' by the Taiwanese Government.

'She is not a pianist, but a musician! She does not play the piano, but plays the music and emotion." -1st Prize comments by Chairman of the Jury at the 3rd International Students Piano Competition Netherland

Performances

Veronica performs extensively both in England and in continental Europe, as well as in Asia and North America. She has given recitals at venues like Chopin's Residence and the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh; Conway Hall in London; Teatro Creta in Milan; and Vredenburg in Holland. She has also performed at many Festivals, including the Rome National Festival (at Teatro Marcello and Villa Tolornia), the Salzburg Festival, as well as the Edinburgh Festival (Reid Concert Hall) with critical acclaim. In 2013, Veronica was invited to give masterclasses at Victoria Conservatory in Canada, and was interviewed by The Times and the Colonist. Both her solo recital and composition concerts in Victoria recevied standing ovations. She collaborated with pre-eminent performers like guitarist Xue-Fei Yang and baritone John Morgan from the Royal Opera, Richard Rittelmaan from Lyon Opera House; performed as a soloist with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra's concert tour in Taiwan.

'Janacek sonata was searching, profound and utterly authentic...'. Edinburgh Festival Recital, the Herald

Creaitve: Composition, Piano Theatre and Toy Piano

Her great interests in the arts has led Veronica to create Piano concerts with other fields. By collaborating with dancers, poets and visual artists, Veronica has given several highly acclaimed sold-out 'Piano Theatre' concert tours, and was filmed and broadcast by the Public TV. In 2010 to celebrate Chopin's 200 anniversary of Birth, Veronica and dancer Ruby Chan created a Dance-Piano Concert called 'Chopin's Music Box', based on Chopin's music and was very well received. In 2012, Veronica found the instrument 'Toy-Piano' and has composed and made many arrangements for it, premiered in Taiwan. Her adventurous creative works were interviewed and broadcast by ETTV, CTS TV, FTV as well as Muzik Magazine in Taiwan. In 2013, Veronica was invited to compose for Quanta Philharmonics. Her romantic compositional style is very much loved, and her composition album 'European Fantasy' was enormously popular and was listed top 1 in classical chart by Eslite Music in Taiwan.

Apart from music, Veronica enjoys travelling, writing, and Ballet. She has released two books in 2014 which were much loved and said by her readers as 'truly inspiring', 'the book changed my life', 'cant stop my tears'... Since 2013, Veronica started to give public speeches at various universities, public libraries and international bookstores. Her enthusiasm towards love come through to her audience in various creative ways and continue to inspire more.

'Most exciting aesthetic fruit of creativity! ' A.Glauer,Chair of Postgraduate Studies RAM