Chen Yufan grew up around the workbench in his father's Guangzhou workshop, and joined Scott Cao Violins as a maker with encouragement from Scott himself. In 2018, at just twenty years old, he won his first VSA Quartet Tone Award, making him the youngest competitor in the field that year. Six years and one more Quartet Tone Award later, he's no longer the newcomer he was back then.
A second quartet award, and a streak that keeps growing
The 25th VSA International Violin Making Competition wrapped up on November 22, 2024, drawing 450 makers from around the world in what organizers described as an especially competitive year. Once again, Scott's students stood out in the tone judging: Chen Yufan, working with colleague Jiang Huorong, took home the Quartet Tone Award, while two other workshop makers won tone awards in the viola and violin categories.
Eight competitions in a row with a tone award. Six of those, specifically for quartets.
It's a streak the workshop has built one competition at a time. Chen Yufan's first quartet win back in 2018 was one link in that chain, and this year's win extends it further. For Scott, it's as much a reflection on his teaching as it is on the makers themselves: recognition not just for the instruments built, but for the eye it takes to train the people who build them.
Two quartet wins in, Chen Yufan is still one of the younger names in the workshop, and we look forward to what he'll continue to bring to the bench in the years ahead.