Vivian Wen-Wen Hou was born in Taipei, Taiwan. She began learning the piano at the age of six and violin at seven, and she came to the United States when she was thirteen. She received her masters degree in Violin performance from Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University and her bachelors degree in music from University of California, Berkeley. She studied with Herbert Greenberg, the former concertmaster of Baltimore Symphony Orchestra while at Peabody. She's played in several orchestras including San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, Peabody Symphony Orchestra, and Peabody Conductors Orchestra under Marine Alsop's baton.