The daughter of two renowned Korean opera singers, it was obvious that German-born Clara-Jumi Kang would follow a musical career, though in her case it was the violin.
Clara-Jumi Kang
Violin
Already at the age of five, she gave her first concert with the Symphoniker Hamburg and a year later was accepted at the renowned Juilliard School in New York, as the youngest student ever. She won numerous awards including the Seoul International Music Competition in 2009 and the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis a year later.
Over the years, Clara-Jumi Kang has played worldwide with numerous orchestras such as the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. She has played with great soloists such as Janine Jansen, Gidon Kremer and Mischa Maisky. She now has several recordings to her name with the first being a CD of Beethoven's Triple Concerto made when she was only nine years old. Her most recent CD contains the complete violin sonatas of the same composer with Sunwook Kim at the piano.
Haar herinnering aan het vioolconcours in Indianapolis:
"Vlak voordat ik op moest voor één van de finaleconcerten vroeg de dirigent hoe ik me voelde. 'Zenuwachtig', zei ik. 'Dat is heel goed' was zijn antwoord. Gek genoeg hielp dat enorm."
Interview in The Violinist 2010.