Keng-Yuen Tseng曾耿元,Violinist

A native of Taiwan, Keng-Yuen Tseng began studying the violin at the age of five and made his performing debut at the age of seven. Upon his arrival in the United States in 1980, Mr. Tseng was awarded a full scholarship to the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Erick Friedman.

Mr. Tseng has won numerous top prizes at national and international competitions, both in the United States and abroad. In 1990, he received the award for best interpretation of a new composition at the Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow, and three years later, he won the Silver Medal at the 1993 Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition in Belgium. He has received prizes at the North Carolina and New Jersey Symphony Artist Competitions and the Washington International String Competition, among others.

Mr. Tseng has performed in recital and as a concerto soloist throughout the United States, Europe, Central and South America, and the Far East. Orchestras with which he has appeared as soloist include the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Noordholan Philharmonic, the Koninklijk Philharmonic Orkest van Vlaanderen, the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, the Simon Bolivar Orquesta Sinfonica, the Tibilisi Symphony Orchestra, the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, the Taiwan Symphony, and the National Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan, among others. He has appeared at prestigious venues such as the Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Belgium, the Theatre Des Champs-Elysees in Paris, Shanghai Concert Hall, and National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, China.

A dedicated teacher, Mr. Tseng is a violin faculty at Peabody Institute of the John Hopkins University, as well as Chair in Strings, Yong Siew Toh Music Conservatory, NUS, at the Peabody Institute. He travels to his native Taiwan and China several times each year, where he conducts masterclasses, seminars, and mentors a growing list of prize-winning students. In addition, Mr. Tseng serves as the Artistic Director of Phoenix Arts Management and is a recording artist under Dynamic and SYArts labels.

“An active Player who thrives on the contact between orchestra and soloist… Tseng also succeeded brilliantly as recitalist, he drew the audience away from a competition atmosphere.” –The Strad Magazine

“Here is the real thing, commanding presence, interpretive ideas, a fully throughout conception of the music from beginning to end… Here are musical ideas and performance skills wedded in most convincing fashion.” –Fanfare recording review

曾耿元教授5歲時在父親曾哲男先生的啟蒙下開始學習小提琴，6歲便登台演奏，在跟隨其父長達8年的學琴歲月裡奠定了扎實的基礎。1978年曾教授遇到海飛茲的嫡傳弟子Erick Friedman，被其譽為12年來僅見之天才，在Friedman的安排下，曾教授爭取到了曼哈頓音樂學院的全額獎學金，1983年跟隨紐約愛樂首席Glenn Dicterow學習。

在美期間，曾教授以精湛的琴藝不斷獲得各項比賽大獎，如北卡羅萊納國際藝術家首獎，紐澤西交響樂團所舉辦的全美音樂比賽第一名，1987年於卡內基音樂廳，演出聖桑的第三號小提琴協奏曲，獲得極高的評價。1988年獲得了華盛頓郵報國際大賽評審團及現場觀眾投票雙重首獎，同年更兩度赴甘迺迪藝術中心演出，名教授Joseph Gingold對曾教授的琴藝贊賞不已，並表示「如今居然還有如此之演奏家，實在難得」。

1990年曾教授參加莫斯科柴可夫斯基大賽，獲得「最佳新曲詮釋獎」，他是這項比賽首次獲此殊榮的東方人。一些資深的愛樂者更喻為「似乎見到了當年的海飛茲」。1993年的比利時伊莉莎白國際大賽，曾教授榮獲銀牌獎，在第一回合便獲得最高評價，並立即接受女王召見，被譽為有史以來東方最偉大的演奏家。當他在總決賽結束蕭士塔高維契的小提琴協奏曲時，全場觀眾起立向他致意。

曾教授目前任教於美國約翰霍普金斯大學琵琶地音樂學院（Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University）並擔任弦樂系主任、新加坡國立大學音樂學院（Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music NUS）客座主任及玄音國際音樂節藝術總監。