Born in Beijing, Yi-Wen Jiang has appeared as a soloist with the Victoria Symphony and the Montreal Symphony. He has also performed for NBC and PBS television specials, National Public Radio, CPB in Beijing, WQXR in New York, and KFUO in St. Louis.
Beginning his violin studies with his father at age six, he made his concerto début with the Central Opera House Orchestra in Beijing when he was 17. In 1981, after winning a top prize at the First China Youth Violin Competition, he was accepted into the class of Professor Han Li at the Central Conservatory of Music. In 1985 he came to the United States on a full scholarship to the St. Louis Conservatory, where his teachers included Taras Gabora, Jaime Laredo, and Michael Tree. He also spent two summers in Dallas participating in master classes with Pinchas Zukerman. In 1990, with the support of the Ken Boxley Foundation, he went to Rutgers University to work with Arnold Steinhardt of the Guarneri Quartet.