B i o g r a p h y
Early Life
Rik Jin was born on March 2.He grew up in London,England, and began to learn piano at the age of five under the influence of his mother ( a professional pianist ). He joined the local musical ensemble at the age of 9, From then on he dreamed of becoming a musician/pianist .
He gradually came to want to learn other instruments, before his 18th birthday. Rik has completed all Grade-8 certifications from Trinity College London in Drums , Electric/Classical Guitar and Bass Guitar. Before that , he has completed his Grade-8 certification in Piano at the age of 15.
He was a prizewinner in’Young British Soloists of the Year'Competition of the London Symphony Orchestra.
1st prize in Music Performance Competition of the Imperial College Chamber Music Society.
1st prize in Chopin Interpretation Competition of Warsaw Conservatory.
and had later studies at The Royal College of Music (Classical music) and London College of Music (Modern music) A multi-instrumentalist.
Besides music , he also studied psychology during his university life at Imperial College London.
Music
Rik is also a sought-after studio musician .A very rare classical professional pianist with wide range of music genres. As a multi- instrumentalist, he often works with well-known international bands and artists such as ;
Adele, Avril Lavigne, Green Day, Ian Brown, Lily Allen, , Manic Street Preachers, Radiohead, Rita Ora, Robbie Williams.
Besides, he also lived in Asia and worked with famous Asian pop artists such as
Dreams Come True(ドリームズ・カム・トゥルー ), HYDE (ハイド),
L'Arc-en-Ciel (ラルク アン シエル), Misia(ミーシャ), Shiina Ringo(椎名 林檎)
Aaron Kwok(郭富城), A-Lin(黃麗玲), Beyond, Eason Chan(陳奕迅) , Faye Wong (王菲), Jolin Tsai (蔡依林), Paul Wong(黃貫中) ,
Stefanie Sun (孙燕姿) , Wang Lee Hom(王力宏)
Rik does not record or concertize prolifically. Rik does not like to be pigeonholed, and often strikes out on his own path. He played with Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, The London Philharmonic Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonie de Paris.
His ability to play multiple instruments and deep understanding of those instruments make him the best choice as a Musical Instruments Specialist or Concert Sound Engineer.
He also collaborated with a few TV stations such as ;
BBC UK, Fuji Television Japan, KBS Korea and TVB Hong Kong
While Rik's interpretations generally sound fresh and spontaneous, these characteristics arise from reasoned and deliberate musical choices. Far from prolific, he is always thought-provoking. Rik currently resides in London.
Chartity work
Rik has been supporting Unicef since 2012. He has travelled to China, Middle East and Africa , visiting kids, to raise funds and donations for Unicef.
Rik has also been donating *500 Electronic keyboards every year since 2014 .His campaign slogan is 'Everyone deserves an opportunity' to learn to play the piano.As a pianist , he would love to see a great pianist coming from Unicef children perform on stage in the future.
He has a volunteer organisation in Japan providing free music and language lessons at selected orphanages in Tokyo. sLs Volunteer.org
Hobbies
He loves football ( soccer ), going to gym and exploring the world .He has
been to over 60 countries, countless of places on seven continents.
He likes taking photos in the morning. As early as possible that means less people around. ( Have a look at the *Gallery page )
Early morning photography can result in stunning images.
He holds a black belt , Hachidan (8th Dan) in both Karate and Judo.
Healthy lifestyle is very important for him. He neither drinks nor smokes.
Personal Life
In his late 20s, he was diagnosed with cancer. Since his cancer was diagnosed, he feels as if he's living on borrowed time. Fortunately , fully recovered after 2 years of recovery treatments.
Rik also involved in car crash . He miraculously survived the near-fatal car accident but he lost his friend. Having survived the accident, and needing to restart his life, he moved to Japan. He taught English but not merely to survive, but to thrive; with passion and compassion. He did not talk about his background with his students.
His previous jobs include: sales assistant at Tower records piccadilly circus London, customer support at GSK pharmaceutical , music teacher, language teacher, psychologist and language specialist at Gov agency in the UK.
Mixed heritage backgrounds,
Rik's genes and cultural background may explain some of his music and language skills: He is one-half British, one-quarter Japanese, and Korean, Chinese, German , Persian ancestry.
He speaks 6 languages and holding a few passports.
If someone asks where he is from, he usually assume they will have fallen asleep before he rattle off his various backgrounds, so he stick to saying "British."
He don't believe a person's identity is made up of the countries their parents are from, it's more where you feel you most belong and for him that is, and probably always will be, England.
He received his first professional music audition offer from a person who he met on a double decker bus in London . Little did he know, that person is a famous rock star in Japan. *Hyde ( it was his vacation ) and Rik was just on his way to music studio with his keyboard.
During his early years, he met Phil Selway and Ed O'Brien ( members of RADIOHEAD ) at a famous music college in West London. Many years later Phil Selway recomended him to Radiohead as their keyboardist and instrument specialist for their world tour.
In 2016 ,he set up a Piano Foundation. Scouting the best young pianists from all around the world, unselfish devotion in providing guidance and exceptional teaching expertise.
Currently he is also a company director for an export/import business enterprise, property company, travel agency & founder of sLs Group.
Message
“Singers and musicians are some of the most driven, courageous people on the face of the earth. They deal with more day-to-day rejection in one year than most people do in a lifetime. Every day, they face the financial challenge of living a freelance lifestyle, the disrespect of people who think they should get real jobs, and their own fear that they'll never work again.
Every day, they have to ignore the possibility that the vision they have dedicated their lives to is a pipe dream. With every note, they stretch themselves, emotionally and physically, risking criticism and judgment. With every passing year, many of them watch as the other people their age achieve the predictable milestones of normal life - the car, the family, the house, the nest egg.
Why? Because musicians and singers are willing to give their entire lives to a moment - to that melody, that lyric, that chord, or that interpretation that will stir the audience's soul. Singers and musicians are beings who have tasted life's nectar in that crystal moment when they poured out their creative spirit and touched another's heart. In that instant, they were as close to magic, and perfection as anyone could ever be. And in their own hearts, they know that to dedicate oneself to that moment is worth a thousand lifetimes.”
sLs Japan
sLs Singapore ,
sLs Hong Kong,
Borderless Piano Academy-sLs Japan,
AyseDeniz/sLs Japan Collaboration project
sLs Languages 東京と横浜で子供たちの英語レッスン
sLs Artists Crossover classical music
Churen Li pianist and composer
チュレン・リー (RiRi)| クラシック、現代音楽のピアニスト
