Clara-Jumi Kang
violin
About this Artist
Violinist Clara-Jumi Kang is an artist of supreme musicality, impeccable refinement, and poise. Her cycle of Beethoven Violin Sonatas with pianist Sunwook Kim was released on Accentus in 2021 and has received outstanding reviews and nominations.
Highlights of the 2023/24 season include her Edinburgh Festival solo recital debut, as well as debuts with the Israel Philharmonic as part of the Côte-Saint-André Festival under Music Director Lahav Shani, with whom she will also make her Budapest Festival Orchestra debut; the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl; and the Cincinnati and Detroit symphony orchestras. Kang will also return to the Rotterdam Philharmonic and Auckland Philharmonia and will tour South Korea with the Munich Philharmonic under the baton of Myung-Whun Chung. As a recitalist, Kang regularly performs at the world’s most prestigious halls—she made her Wigmore Hall debut this past February and returned to the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées for two concerts..
Recent highlights also include her debut at the Proms with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Ryan Bancroft and performances with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, and Taipei Symphony.
She made her concerto debut with the Hamburg Symphony at the age of 5 and has since performed with orchestras including the Warsaw Philharmonic, Kremerata Baltica, Mariinsky Orchestra, Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, and the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra.
In the U.S., she has performed with the Atlanta, New Jersey, Indianapolis, and Santa Fe symphony orchestras, and in Asia with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, NCPA Beijing Orchestra, Macao Philharmonic, and the Seoul Philharmonic. She was selected as one of the top 100 “Most promising and influential people of Korea” in 2012 by major South Korean newspaper Dong-A Times, was awarded the Daewon Music Award (2012) for her outstanding international achievements, and was named Kumho Musician of the Year (2015).
Kang has made two recordings for Decca: Modern Solo, featuring works including Ernst’s “Last Rose,” Schubert’s “Erlkönig,” and Ysaÿe sonatas, and a Brahms/Schumann album with pianist Yeol Eum Son.
A devoted chamber musician, Kang regularly visits chamber music festivals and collaborates with renowned artists including Janine Jansen, Gidon Kremer, and Mischa Maisky.
Born in Germany to a musical family, Kang took up the violin at the age of 3 and a year later enrolled as the youngest-ever student at the Mannheim Musikhochschule. She went on to study with Zakhar Bron at the Lübeck Musikhochschule, and at the age of 7 she was awarded a full scholarship to The Juilliard School to study with Dorothy DeLay. She took her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the Korea National University of Arts under Nam Yun Kim before completing her studies at the Munich Musikhochschule with Christoph Poppen.
Kang plays on the 1702 “Thunis” Stradivarius.