Yulan Chen

Senior Orchestra Concerto Competition Winner

Yulan Chen, 17, began playing the flute at the age of eight with Bonnie Blanchard in Seattle, WA. She currently studies with Maria Tamburrino, and previously studied with Isabelle Chapuis, and Esther Landau in the Pre-College Division at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Yulan is now in her sixth year in the California Youth Symphony, and second year as co-principal flutist.

Most recently, Yulan attended the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and was named a 2015 National YoungArts Foundation Winner. She placed third alternate in the 2015 National Flute Association High School Soloist Competition, and won Aragon High School’s Concerto Competition. In previous years, Yulan participated in the California All-State Honors Orchestra, and was principal piccolo in the Honors Wind Symphony as well as principal flute and piccolo in the San Mateo District-wide Honor Symphonic Band and Orchestra. Yulan has performed for and taken lessons with notable people such as Paula Robison, Robert Stallman, and Linda Toote.

Yulan is finishing her senior year at Aragon High School in San Mateo. In addition to her musical endeavors, Yulan is an avid tennis player, and also has an affinity for the outdoors. She is a four-year varsity tennis player at her high school, serving as co-captain for the last two seasons, and has backpacked throughout Yosemite and Death Valley, and summited Mount Whitney, and Mount Sorrow in Cape Tribulation, Australia.