Rayna Yun Chou
周昀為來自台灣台中的旅美中提琴家，持耶魯大學音樂院與新英格蘭音樂院演奏與音樂藝術雙碩士，目前為波士頓大學博士研究生以及美國麻州文化部 2021 年藝術獎獲獎者。長年專研中提琴演奏，已曾於台灣國家音樂廳，台中國家歌劇院，美國與歐洲等地演出。演出之餘致力以創新模式推廣古典音樂，近期作品包括社會實驗性展覽 Concert For One 與 Hear the Light 皆受國際媒體好評。
出生於1993年夏天，周昀在 2008 年前往美國向 Donald McInnes 教授學習前已曾在台灣贏得過多項比賽，包括台灣室內樂音樂比賽（2004），台灣中提琴大賽（2005）和台灣中區中提琴大賽（2008）。
2017 年於新英格蘭音樂院完成學士碩士雙學位，師從 Martha Stroning Katz 與 Dimitri Murrath 教授，在學期間積極參加大師班以及美國與歐洲等地音樂節。畢業後獲全額獎學金以及研究津貼前往耶魯大學音樂院攻讀音樂藝術碩士學位，師事 Steven Tenenbom 與 Ettore Causa 教授。現於波士頓大學音樂院博士班，師事 Michelle LaCourse 教授。
作為一名藝術家，她的作品「Concert for One 你我那一分鐘」在2016年獲得新英格蘭音樂學院的年度獎項與贊助，成功於台中市成功展出後發表紀錄片。2018年，此企劃通過全球公共藝術項目徵選，在波士頓市政府以及哈佛大學等的支持下，隔年由波士頓名家系列全額舉辦，聯手六十位在地音樂家合作於波士頓與劍橋市展出，周昀以主藝術家身份接受多家國際媒體採訪，包括美國波士頓環球報和美國國家公共廣播電台等。2020 年八月於台北華山文創園區展出古典音樂與光線裝置之實驗性展覽 Hear the Light ，並於隔年獲美國麻州文化部 2021 年藝術獎（Mass Cultural Council Artist Fellowship）。
周昀另為樂旅人和漸快網站的聯合創始人，以及紐約哈芬登郵報、台灣換日線和謬思客等線上刊物專欄作家。並在2018年9月因其非營利的教育工作而獲得新英格蘭音樂學院GYA獎項，以及波士頓大學藝術學院社會影響資金（Social Impact Seed Grant）。周昀令有哈佛大學延伸學院管理與行銷文憑，並曾於耶魯出版社實習。
Boston-based violist and interdisciplinary artist Rayna Yun Chou has performed at renowned venues and presented multiple art installations globally. Her most recent award-winning public art projects include Hear the Light (Taiwan, 2020) and Concert For One (Boston and Cambridge, 2019). A graduate of Yale School of Music and New England Conservatory of Music, Rayna is a current doctoral student and graduate assistant at Boston University School of Music.
Born in the summer of 1993, Rayna began playing the viola at the age of 9 and went on to win several regional and national competitions in her home country Taiwan, including Taiwan Viola Competition (2005) and National Viola Competitions (2008). She continued her studies in the United States with Donald McInnes in 2008. In 2011, Rayna moved to Boston and began her Bachelor's and Master's studies at the New England Conservatory in the studios of Martha Strongin Katz and Dimitri Murrath.
As a student at the conservatory, she participated in masterclasses and workshops regularly, worked with members of the Borromeo Quartet, and attended international music festivals in the summers. In 2017, Rayna began her full scholarship fellowship of Master of Musical Arts at Yale School of Music, studying with Steven Tenenbom and Ettore Causa.
As an adventurous artist, Rayna's first social-experimental exhibition One Minute of Just Us (2016-17) challenged and renewed the relationship between audiences and performers with the goal to make music more accessible. The project was awarded New England Conservatory’s Entrepreneurial Musicianship Award in 2016 before its successful debut in Taichung city. In 2018, Rayna's proposal of Concert for One was selected through an international search for a Public Art Project by the Celebrity Series of Boston. The project premiered in Boston and Cambridge in 2019 with support from the City of Boston, Harvard University, and others. Leading 50 Boston local musicians, Rayna's project gave powerful and free music experiences to an estimated 5,000 people in Boston and Cambridge. Concert For One was featured in the Boston Globe as a groundbreaking public art event of 2019 that distilled live performance to its most basic elements.
Rayna's most recent large-scale installation art Hear the Light (2020) is recently awarded the Mass Cultural Council Artist Fellowship Grant in 2021 - Premiered in Taiwan during the pandemic in the summer of 2020, Hear the Light was a conceptual immersive exhibition that combined time-based sound and light installations. The installation as a whole was a space that showcases and preserves the vitality of music and nature.
Rayna is also the co-founder of Music Traveler and Accel. In September 2018, she was awarded the GYA Grant from the New England Conservatory for her non-profit educational work. She is also a contributing writer for the Huffington Post, Crossing, and MUZIK Air Taiwan. Rayna holds a Graduate Certificate in Marketing Management from Harvard University Extension School, her other experiences outside the field of music include an internship at the Yale University Press.