Check Out Sharon Chen’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sharon Chen.

Hi Sharon, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a violinist turned pianist. I beat all odds and rare illnesses to be able to play the violin and make music again.
I am a classically-trained composer, violinist, pianist; an award-nominated composer. What Was I Made For? won Steve Sheppard’s Award for Best Single in April 2024, One World Music Radio, UK. Blissful and Beyond (piano, strings, orchestra) album won third place Best Album (Sept ’24).

I was a violinist, but became a composer, pianist recently because of ongoing health problems. My 18th century Italian violin has passed through the hands of professional musicians. Eastman School of Music Pre-College scholarship. Harvard College graduate with honors in Music and East Asian Languages and Civilizations. I was a violinist but became a composer, pianist recently because of ongoing health problems. After many years of misdiagnoses, I was diagnosed with brain tumors in 2019. One was an acoustic neuroma-type on my balance/hearing nerve. Miraculously, I can still share my music and am honored if I can brighten someone’s day with my music.

I am a poet, dreamer, writer…see my poems on Twitter. My songs are twinged with nostalgia, introspection; they show themes of darkness evolving into light. I play piano livestreams on multiple medias, including YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn. I play mixed genres including classical, jazz, new age, neoclassical, and somewhere in-between. My YouTube performance channel has over 592,000 views in classical, my own works, and jazz, in piano and violin. I am known for Chopin performances. Each of my feel-good piano, violin, strings, orchestral works from my album, Blissful and Beyond, has a story of gratitude behind it. I’m grateful to be able to share my music and see nature’s beauty in music! New EP’s coming in different genres including jazz, piano and orchestra with Chinese philosophy behind my original works. Disney Piano EP (partly out): When You Wish Upon a Star, Someday My Prince Will Come (classical and swing jazz versions), A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes (v.3)..coming soon Le Festin, When She Loved Me.

1. New album: The Five Elements
Experience a harmonious blend of tradition and emotion with “The Five Elements”. Each track captures the essence of Fire, Earth, Wood, Water, and Metal, evoking the beauty of Chinese melodies and philosophy while also incorporating Western influences. Through poetic themes and landscapes, this collection invites you on a journey through the rich tapestry of the primordial basics of Chinese philosophy.
April Release: Spring Raindrops from The Five Elements (album): Chinese-inspired East-West album
https://gyro.to/SpringRaindrops

2. Disney Piano EP: Once Upon a Time, Long, Long Ago – Work in progress (Four songs out, Le Festin comes 13 June)
A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes ‘Happily Ever After’ Disney Piano EP
https://gyro.to/331518ADreamIsaWishYourHeartMakes

3. New May Release Nocturne Op. 9 No, 2 Release from Chopin Experiment EP/album:
https://gyro.to/329215NocturneinEFlatMajorOp9No2

In social medias all together, I have around 200k..including Spotify, and other medias..
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SharonChenMusic

Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/artist/5J4qO2f9cbZ6Tge1nIaiOp?si=PaHMFpVoTBCJhZ0AqEcuHA

Second moniker:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3aykfWas9WNkv4aBEnTIN5?si=cQKJx-LERk2V9zwnaqqvqA

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SharonEChen

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/sharonchenmusic/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sharonechen

FB: https://www.facebook.com/SharonChenMusic/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-chen-601b3b14a/

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/contemplativeclassical

Bandcamp: https://sharonchen.bandcamp.com/

https://linktr.ee/sharonchenmusic
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Listen on Pandora Radio: thanks for liking and adding to stations!

New May Release: My Chopin Nocturnes on Pandora
https://pandora.app.link/mU32smr6pTb

April Release
Spring Raindrops: (EP)
https://pandora.app.link/nUE3PZA9sTb

A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes: (EP)
https://pandora.app.link/SzhVmQL9sTb

Last weekend, Spotify merged my two monikers (Sharon Chen, Sharon Chen Music Covers) by mistake. One had 96k, one had 37k. I hope my label can fix the issues, thanks

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, I have a lot of medical problems. I had two TMJ surgeries in ’24. The pain was and is very bad, and I have not yet fully recovered. I have Ehler’s Danlos Syndrome which hinders healing and causes worse symptoms like hypermobility which gives me severe arthritis in my fingers especially. As I mentioned, I had a misdiagnosed brain tumor for 10 years despite my going to Mayo Clinic in Minn which they purport to be number 1 in Neurology. The radiologist missed my brain tumor on the MRI and it was already big. I went to Johns Hopkins and they never checked my MRI because they trusted Mayo and told me to go back. in 2019, seven years after Mayo missed my tumor, they finally found it at Barrow’s. The neurosurgeon there said he could not believe Mayo missed it with the gadolinium.

The Spotify ‘colleagues/ex-friends’ (men and women, but surprisingly the majority are men) turned jealous, spiteful, and ganged up on me multiple times to sabotage me and get rid of me. I fought them 20 to 1.

There is a lot of racism and chauvinism not only in social media, but also in the music field (streaming, piano labels, esp. Europeans, Spotify). The piano labels on instagram are very cliquey. I deal with chauvinism and/or racism in Netherlands, Germany, Spain, (old world Europe). Two Spanish men repeatedly kicked me out of their playlist or deliberately lied and sabotaged me. I performed/recorded their song and they gave me no credit for Spotify/streaming. They said they had recorded it, not me. Netherlands and Germany (piano labels) seem to dislike Chinese people. Australia and the USA are fine. The French are also racist. Some Turkish are also very racist and chauvinistic. I was kicked out of a large Turkish list because a Turkish male composer there advocated to the curator to promote his songs and his male colleagues only and kick me out. I was the only minority and woman there. The rest are white men. One or two women at the bottom. Also had a bad experience with an Iranian composer; I composed and played the solo violin for his work but he tried to steal the song and upload it so he could get all profits and again gave me no credit for my acoustic violin (duet) and cello work/composition in the work which are the spotlights of the piece.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am known for my classical performances, esp. Chopin in tiktok and YouTube, However I can play multiple instruments in multiple genres, live.. not many can do this. Since my jaw surgery, I do not play a lot of violin, because do not want to aggravate the neck.

I had many hobbies before and can knit, quilt, design papercrafts. However, because I have chronic pain esp. in my neck, I discontinued a lot of them. I guess I am a versatile artist. I can use Logic Pro and compose strings, orchestral and chamber works, piano works, etc besides performances. Many composers cannot perform at all.

I know a lot about how to get around the USA medical field now, having seen dozens of doctors throughout the years.

Despite the uphill battles in career and health, I still survived. However, I do not trust a lot of people in social media; at least am wary now.

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I hope to get a piano sponsorship from Steinway, Shigeru Kawaii, Yamaha. Beckstein follows me on Tiktok. I hope to get a knowledgeable, reliable agent. I am classical crossover, because I play many different genres. Some of my jazz songs have hundreds of thousands of views. On Spotify, I have 10 million streams. One thing I do not like is that Spotify shows the listener numbers, but then allows people to buy their listeners, follower, streaming numbers. I think the majority of people in Spotify including the labels, just buy numbers which defeats the point of having numbers. Also introduces the urge for people to just beat people up for numbers. Many things I say, then I see my colleagues try to copy my concepts/ideas… this is frustrating if the copy is extreme.

In the end most will not be able to play classical, original works, jazz in different instruments and live so I do stand out. I will have to try showcase that. Video (YouTube) I think is the hardest media. Spotify is too political.

If I got a good gig in making music for movies, or a good performance gig, or a sponsorship, this would be useful.
I have found that I do relatively well in radio and can make money there. People are too focused on Spotify and any platform that has numbers because they want to only brag about how big their numbers are. Even a high school? student from England repeatedly tried to beat me with her label..very unprofessional..She is on several botted (fake) playlists to boost her numbers. Many colleagues on fake playlists or buy their numbers…. sad. If I say Chopin’s numbers are down on Spotify, which is truthful recently, then they will feel bad and start to pull their numbers down; otherwise they just keep bloating falsely up.

I hope these unfair things/situations will resolve. I write music because I have a lot of life experiences and have gone through a lot. My music reflects my knowledge, culture, and difficulties in life. People understand who I am through my music. All my numbers are organic.

My music is a mixture of Asian and western sentiment, culture, because this is who I am..I can write Asian music; I can write western music with Asian themes and sentiment.

I hope to gain more of a USA following (would help me in Pandora) and to play concerts live in the USA; also I want the Asian market. I have a lot of European and Turkish followers. I am open to wedding gigs as well, Hope to succeed in Youtube. If successful, I will be able to leave Spotify.
I wrote a song Nocturne in C Minor which combines Chopin aesthetics with Chinese sentiments.. Inspired by Thoughts on a Still Night, written by Tang Dynasty poet, Li Bai who feels lonely on a cold winter night. This song is about to reach one million Spotify streams and is also popular on Pandora. This song made me start the piano lives a couple years ago and I still play full moon livestreams. Last week I did two piano lives (mostly classical, including Chopin, Liszt, Beethoven, orignals) to multiple medias: X, YouTube, FB, Insta, Linked In. I encourage people to watch on youtube, but I regularly have over 130 people watching live on multiple sites. Hundreds more watch later. I am an influencer.

Pricing:

• CD: $30

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sharonelainechen.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sharonchenmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Sharon-Chen/100044793578416/ and https://www.facebook.com/SharonChenMusic/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-chen-601b3b14a/
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sharonechen
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SharonChenMusic
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/contemplativeclassical
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5J4qO2f9cbZ6Tge1nIaiOp

Image Credits
These are all my photos. The amaryllis in my garden represent strength and determination. The flowers are from my garden. This is my Italian violin.