Clara-Jumi Kang

Upcoming highlights include festival appearances at the BBC Proms, returning following her debut in 2022 to perform the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante alongside Timothy Ridout, at the Hollywood Bowl alongside the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the second consecutive season, as well as her debut at the Salzburg Festival under Andrew Manze.

Later in the season she returns to the Israel Philharmonic for the third time since her debut in September 2023, to the Seoul Philharmonic for concerts in Lotte Concert Hall as well as on their domestic tour alongside Music Director Jaap van Zweden, before debuts with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Ottawa, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the Utah Symphony Orchestra, the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, the Oregon Symphony Orchestra, the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra. She will also perform a recital tour across Korea, culminating at Seoul Arts Center, and make her recital debuts at the Boulez Saal in Berlin and the Hong Kong City Hall, and perform solo recitals in Rome and Torino.

Other recent highlights include performances with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic at the Isarphilharmonie and on tour to Korea alongside Myun-whun Chung, the Budapest Festival Orchestra with Lahav Shani, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony, NHK Symphony Orchestra and Bournemouth Symphony.

Since making her concerto debut with Hamburg Symphony at the age of five, Kang has regularly worked with leading conductors including P Järvi, Xavier-Roth, Denève, V Petrenko, Yamada, Ollikainen, Bancroft, Mena, Shani, T Fischer, Dutoit, Reif, Bihlmaier, Edusei and Long Yu. She was selected as one of the top 100 “Most promising and influential people of Korea” in 2012 by major Korean newspaper Dong-A Times and was awarded the Daewon Music Award (2012) for her outstanding international achievements as well as Kumho Musician of the Year (2015).

Clara-Jumi Kang has made two recordings for Decca: “Modern Solo” featuring works including Schubert’s “Last Rose”, “Erlkönig” and Ysaÿe Sonatas, and a Brahms/Schumann album with Yeol-Eum Son. Her cycle of Beethoven Violin Sonatas with pianist Sunwook Kim was released on Accentus last season to outstanding reviews and nominations. A devoted chamber musician, she regularly visits chamber music festivals and collaborates with renowned musicians including Janine Jansen, Gidon Kremer and Mischa Maisky.

Born in Germany to a musical family, Clara-Jumi Kang took up the violin at the age of three 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 seven was awarded a full scholarship to the Julliard School to study with Dorothy Delay. Having received musical guidance from Barenboim starting from the age of 11, she was then invited to perform with him and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra aged 12. She took her Bachelor and Masters degrees at the Korean National University of Arts under Nam-Yun Kim before completing her studies at the Munich Musikhochschule with Christoph Poppen.

Clara-Jumi Kang plays on the "Thunis" Stradivarius from 1702, on generous loan by KIA.

2024-25 season / 579 words. Not to be altered without permission.