Department of Chinese Music, Tainan National University of the Arts.
Born in Kaohsiung, Ling-Chen Yen is currently a Liuqin player in the Tainan City Chinese Orchestra. She graduated from the Department of Chinese Music at Tainan National University of the Arts, majoring in Liuqin and minoring in Ruan under Professor Chen I-Chien. She began learning the piano at age six and was admitted to a specialized Chinese music class at age nine to major in Liuqin, receiving her early training under Teacher Hsu Shih-Ying. She subsequently studied under Teacher Huang Wen-Pei and received guidance from conductor Wang Hui-Ran and performer Wang Hong-Yi. She won numerous awards during her academic years, including First Place in Liuqin at the National Student Music Competition in 1992, 1995, and 1997.
Since 1996, she has been active in southern Taiwan, teaching plucked string instruments at various schools in Chiayi and Tainan. She has served as a performer in the Lan-Tan Music Ensemble, Liuqin Concertmaster of the Kaohsiung Chinese Orchestra II, and Liuqin player in the Taiwan Philharmonic Chinese Orchestra. In 2008, she founded the Plucked String Chamber Orchestra, and in 2011, she joined Contemporary Art Music Ensemble, building an extensive background in live performance.
Her key performances include a joint Liuqin and Pipa concert with classmates in 2005, and her solo recital Playing My Beloved Tu-Pipa in 2007. In 2009 and 2014, she co-hosted the Liuqin vs. Ruan and Strings & Drums concerts with Ruan player Huang Shih-Yun. Also in 2014, she performed as a Liuqin soloist in Courtyard After the Rain during the Hsinchu Youth Chinese Orchestra's tour collaboration with the Tainan City Chinese Orchestra for their Tainan concert. In 2017, she was invited by the International Philharmonic Chinese Orchestra to perform the Taiwan premiere of Spring Passion. In 2018, as part of the Virtuoso Series, she held the Yen Ling-Chen Liuqin Solo Recital, featuring the premiere of the commissioned work Sol Re Sol Re.
In recent years, reflecting on her growing experience in both teaching and performance, she has expanded her artistic horizons and hosted several well-received lectures on plucked string instruments. Her performance style is characterized by versatile expressiveness, delicate tone quality, deep humanistic awareness, and a global perspective, through which she continues to dedicate herself to the advancement and promotion of Liuqin and Ruan music arts.