Chan was born in San Diego, California. His parents, natives of Taiwan, met as graduate students at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
.Eric Asimov, "The Pour: He Can Bring the Wine and the Music," ''New York Times'' (Nov. 19, 2008), p. D6. He began his musical education at age 3 when his parents enrolled him in a violin class. At age 14 he won the San Diego Symphony's Young Arts Concerto Competition, which enabled him to appear with the orchestra in two series of concerts. He was also the featured soloist with the San Diego Youth Symphony on their tour of Austria, Germany, Hungary and the former Czechoslovakia.
He received a bachelor's degree from Harvard University, and a master's degree from the Juilliard School in 1997, where he is currently on the faculty. Juilliard Portraits: David Chan, Violin Faculty /ref> His principal teachers were
Dorothy DeLay
Dorothy DeLay (March 31, 1917 – March 24, 2002) was an American violin instructor, primarily at the Juilliard School, Sarah Lawrence College, and the University of Cincinnati.
Life
Dorothy DeLay was born on March 31, 1917, in Medicine Lodg ...
,
Hyo Kang
In Confucianism, Chinese Buddhism, and Daoist ethics, filial piety (, ''xiào'') (Latin: pietas) is a virtue of respect for one's parents, elders, and ancestors. The Confucian ''Classic of Filial Piety'', thought to be written around the late W ...
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at th ...
, the
National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan
The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO; ), also known as Taiwan Philharmonic () outside Taiwan, is one of the leading orchestras in Asia. Since 1987, the orchestra has its residence in the National Theater and Concert Hall (Taiwan) in Taipei, Taiwan ...
Richmond Symphony Orchestra The Richmond Symphony is based in Richmond, Virginia and is the largest performing arts organization in Central Virginia and one of the nation's leading regional orchestras. The organization includes a full-time orchestra with more than 70 musicians ...
,
Springfield Symphony Orchestra
The Springfield Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Springfield, Massachusetts. It performs at Symphony Hall, a part of the Springfield Municipal Group.
The Springfield Symphony (SSO) got its start when the conductor of the ...
, and the Northbrook Symphony Orchestra. He has released two recordings: a recital album and a disc of two Paganini concertos with the English Chamber Orchestra, both for the Ambassador label.
He became one of the Metropolitan Opera's concertmasters in 2000. On February 2, 2003, the occasion of a Met Orchestra performance, he made his
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
Sofia Gubaidulina
Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina (russian: Софи́я Асгáтовна Губaйду́лина, link=no , tt-Cyrl, София Әсгать кызы Гобәйдуллина; born 24 October 1931) is a Soviet-Russian composer and an established ...
's ''In Tempus Praesens'' (concerto for violin and orchestra) with the Met Orchestra in 2012. For Handel'sGiulio Cesare, Chan appeared onstage in costume during one of David Daniels' arias to supply the obbligato violin part.
Chan was a member of the Emelin Trio in 1998 and 1999. He has been a frequent guest at Japan's Pacific Music Festival, the Taipei Music Academy and Festival, the
Seattle Chamber Music Festival
The Seattle Chamber Music Society (SCMS) is an American organization of musicians located in Seattle, Washington that is dedicated to the performance and promotion of chamber music. Established in 1982, the presenting organization is currently in ...
, and La Jolla's SummerFest. He has also played
chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...
with Lang Lang in a "Lang Lang With Friends" concert.
With the Met Chamber Ensemble, he has played in
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( , ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...
's Chamber Concerto for Piano and Violin with 13 Wind Instruments,
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonically ...
's '' Quatuor pour la fin du temps'' and other works, classical and contemporary.
He joined the faculty of the Juilliard School in 2005. He is head of the Orchestral Performance Program at the
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory in New York City. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition, as well as a bachelor's in mu ...
and has previously served as a faculty member at the
Mannes School of Music
Mannes School of Music is a music conservatory in The New School, a private research university in New York City. In the fall of 2015, Mannes moved from its previous location on Manhattan's Upper West Side to join the rest of the New School cam ...
.
He can be heard on the soundtrack of the films '' Teeth'' and '' The Caller''.
Conducting
Chan has served as Music Director of the APEX Ensemble and as Music Director of Camerata Notturna chamber orchestra.
Wine
After marrying his wife, violinist and Met colleague Catherine Ro, his father-in-law gave him a box of good wine. Once he joined the Met Orchestra, he befriended colleagues who were wine connoisseurs. His budding interest led to an obsession with Burgundy wine, to the point where he knew almost every vineyard on the
Côte-d'Or
Côte-d'Or (; literally, "Golden Slope") is a département in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 534,124.Aubert de Villaine of Domaine de la Romanee-Conti. Their meeting resulted in the founding of the festival ''Musique et Vin au Clos Vougeot'' in the
Burgundy
Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...
region of France, of which Chan is the music director.
*David Chan: La Campanella
*Beethoven: Violin Concerto (Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, David Bernard, conductor)
*Great Duos For Violin And Cello (with Rafael Figueroa, cellist)