Clara-Jumi Kang

Regarded as one of the most outstanding violinists of her generation, Clara-Jumi Kang is celebrated for her exceptional musicality, technical mastery, and artistic depth. She has received numerous awards and accolades, including First Prize at the 2010 Indianapolis International Violin Competition, along with five additional special prizes. In the 25/26 season, Kang serves as Artist-in-Residence with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, performing concertos by Lalo, Shostakovich, and Bernstein with Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft. Other highlights of the season include her subscription debut with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, engagements with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, a tour with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and performances with the Philharmonia Orchestra during their Korean tour. She will also make her debut at Walt Disney Concert Hall with a duo recital in their Celebrity Series alongside regular partner Sunwook Kim. Additional performances this season include appearances with the BBC Philharmonic, Iceland Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Houston Symphony, Hamburg Symphony at the Elbphilharmonie, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, among others. Kang is a frequent guest at major international festivals such as the BBC Proms, the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Salzburg Festival, Verbier Festival, Edinburgh Festival, and the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo. Recent seasons have included acclaimed performances with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Daniel Harding, the Munich Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic under Lahav Shani, Seoul Philharmonic under Jaap van Zweden, New York Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra, and NHK Symphony Orchestra. In 2025, she was the soloist on the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra’s major China–Europe tour with Zubin Mehta. Selected as one of the “Top 100 Most Promising and Influential People of Korea” by Dong-A Times in 2012, Kang also received the Daewon Music Award that same year. She has released two recordings for Decca—Modern Solo, featuring works by Schubert and Ysaÿe, and a Brahms–Schumann album with Yeol Eum Son—as well as a complete cycle of Beethoven’s Violin Sonatas with Sunwook Kim in 2021. A dedicated chamber musician, she collaborates with artists such as Martha Argerich, Gidon Kremer, Mischa Maisky, and Janine Jansen. Born in Germany to Korean parents, Kang began playing the violin at the age of three and entered the Mannheim Musikhochschule a year later as its youngest-ever student. She continued her studies with Zakhar Bron in Lübeck before earning a full scholarship at age seven to attend the Juilliard School, studying with Dorothy Delay. Guided musically by Daniel Barenboim from the age of 11, she was invited to perform with him and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at just 12 years old. She completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the Korean National University of Arts under Nam-Yun Kim, followed by further studies at the Munich Musikhochschule with Christoph Poppen. Clara-Jumi Kang performs on the 1702 “Thunis” Stradivarius, generously on loan from KIA.