In this interview, Shen Yun principal violist Rachel Chen shares her journey from early musical training to performing with Shen Yun Performing Arts, and how perseverance, humility, and faith have shaped her path.
Rachel reflects on overcoming physical challenges as a young musician, learning to move beyond self-doubt, and discovering how true expression in music comes not from technique alone, but from sincerity and inner growth.
She also speaks about what makes Shen Yun’s orchestra unique—blending Eastern and Western musical traditions—and how her faith influences the way she approaches both music and life. 00:00 – Meet Rachel Chen, Principal Violist 00:19 – Overcoming Challenges and Self-Doubt 00:45 – Finding Emotion in Performance 01:32 – What Music Reveals About Us 01:53 – Musical Inspirations and Influences 01:55 – How Faith Shapes Her Music 02:38 – What Sets Shen Yun Apart 02:54 – The Unique Sound of Shen Yun's Orchestra 03:38 – What Inspired her to Join Shen Yun 03:54 – A Piece That Resonates Deeply 04:11 – Who the Show Is For 04:32 – Advice to Her Younger Self Shen Yun Performing Arts presents colorful and exhilarating performances of classical Chinese dance and music. A performance by Shen Yun is a presentation of traditional Chinese culture as it once was: a study in grace, wisdom, and the virtues distilled from the five millennia of Chinese civilization.
My name is Rachel Chen and I'm a principal violist with Zhen Yun since 2022.
I was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan but I grew up in Chicago.
I started violin when I was six and I switched to viola when I was 13.
When I first switched to viola, because I have very small hands, it was a really big struggle.
Being able to fix my technique, spend a lot of time on that and really focus on trying to
get past that notion of, oh my hands are just too small, I can't get to this point,
I can't get to that point. Being able to mentally overcome that, that was my biggest challenge.
I think music, it's almost like brutally honest because when you perform as a musician,
I feel like whatever you're feeling, whatever you're thinking about, it comes through in the
music. So like if you're very nervous and you're only thinking about technique, as a listener I
would hear that. But when you're really genuine and really thinking about the music and not about
yourself personally, not about your own status or showing off, I feel like it comes across very
sincere, very genuine. For me, when I play music in the pit, the audience members, their reactions,
that helps me get into the music. When I can really forget about like all the technical aspects
and really focus on the music, I think that's what motivates me to keep going and also inspires me.
The first opera I ever attended was Tosca. For me, like it's the first time listening,
hearing the music, it really touched me. And also I go back and I listen to
Pavarotti's Maria Callas and I feel like the way they sing, it is really genuine, at least for me,
it's genuinely for the audience. As a practitioner of Falun Dafa, I follow the principles of
truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. And I try to incorporate that into my daily life and
practice as well. One thing that sets it apart is usually musicians, whether you're in a professional
orchestra or in a music school, they kind of hope that you're a little bit competitive.
They want you to rise above everyone else. But here, I don't feel that competitiveness. I feel
like everyone's just really hoping the best for each and every other person. When someone asks me
for help or when someone wants to play something for me, I don't hold back anything. Everything
that I've learned, I've tried to help them to the best of my ability. And I think that's because of
my faith. When the curtain rises for the first time, for the audience members, their faces are
just lit up because I don't think they expect it to be so colorful and so grand and hopeful.
And I think that's something that sets Xinyin apart. We have Chinese instruments like pipa and
erhu. Basically, they have the melody, but then we have a symphonic orchestra like violins, viola,
cello, that helps us support the melody with Western harmonies, Western rhythms. But the melody
is what stands out. In Western symphonies, a lot of the motion comes from the harmony changes,
chord by chord, how the harmony progresses. That brings the symphony together and it's beautiful
in itself. But for Chinese music, it's mostly just melody. One line, how it goes horizontally.
Xinyin combines the best of both worlds. They have the melody and have the Western harmonies
that help support the melody. And that's what sets Xinyin's music apart. The show is actually
glorifying the divinely inspired culture of China that has been lost because of the Communist Party.
Wanting to help that mission as much as possible, that's what drives me, that's what motivates me.
Every year, my favorite is the story about the persecution of Dafa. That really touches me
because we share the same faith, but they're being persecuted for something that I can
practice freely in America. I think the Xinyin show is for everyone, whether you're old or
young, Western, Asian. The stories we tell and the morals that we share on stage is similar
across any culture. Everyone benefits from the show in some way and everyone takes a different
lesson from it. I would tell her to always stay humble, no matter what, just keep staying humble
and keep working hard. I think I should have thought about it more actively. It makes your
music more genuine and more sincere and helps you improve as a musician because you know what
your flaws are and you know how to accept them and that's the only way you can improve.
