Chia-Ling Chien

Cellist Chia-Ling Chien was appointed Associate Principal Cello of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra in 2008, and she joined the Orchestra in 2009.

Ms. Chien was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and began playing the piano at the age of six, and the cello at the age of nine. Her first public cello performance was a year later at the age of ten, soon followed by her first honor of winning first place in the National Taiwan Youth Cello Competition at the age of twelve. Her awards include: four years as first prize winner in the Taipei Cello Competition, second prize winner of the National Taiwan Cello Competition, second prize winner of the International Taipei Chopin Piano Competition, The Best Bach Performance Prize for Strings at the Corpus Christi International Competition, winner of the Cleveland Institute of Music Concerto Competition, the Ellis A. Feiman Memorial Award in Cello, the Anna Sosenko Trust Foundation Award, and a Colburn Foundation instrument sponsorship.

As an active chamber musician and a recitalist, Ms. Chien has performed throughout the United States and Asia. Her festival appearances include the Pacific Music Festival, the Blossom Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Sarasota Music Festival, the Perlman Music Program and La Jolla SummerFest.

Chia-Ling Chien is a graduate of The Cleveland Institute of Music, where she received both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. Her principal teachers are Desmond Hoebig and Stephen Geber.