Dubai, UAE
Prepare for an unforgettable night of music on Sunday, March 5th, as world-renowned South Korean violinist Clara-Jumi Kang comes to Dubai to perform at the Dubai Opera as part of the 2023 InClassica International Music Festival. Kang, the winner of the 2009 Seoul Violin Competition, 2010 Sendai Violin Competition and 2010 Indianapolis International Violin Competition, has long since established herself as one of the most talented and exciting musicians of her generation, renowned for her stunning technical ability and emotional performances. For this evening, which marks her professional debut in the United Arab Emirates, she will be joined by South Korean pianist Sunwook Kim, winner of the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition in 2006. Together, the two artists will bring their unique blend of virtuosity and passion to the stage, performing a wide range of classical pieces from some of the greatest composers of all time.
Sunwook Kim came to international recognition when he won the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition in 2006, aged just 18, becoming the competition’s youngest winner for 40 years, as well as its first Asian winner. His performance of Brahms’s Concerto No.1 with the Hallé Orchestra and Sir Mark Elder in the competition’s finals attracted unanimous praise from the press. Since then, he has established a reputation as one of the finest pianists of his generation, appearing as a concerto soloist in the subscription series of some of the world’s leading orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, Berlin Radio Symphony, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Finnish Radio Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Orchestra of Wales, Radio-France Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Hallé Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra for his BBC Proms debut in Summer 2014. Conductor collaborations include with Karina Canellakis, Nathalie Stutzmann, Thomas Sondergard, Tugan Sokhiev, Daniel Harding, Paavo Jarvi, David Afhkam, Edward Gardner, John Elliot Gardiner, Myung-Whun Chung, Osmo Vänskä, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Kirill Karabits, Marek Janowski, Sakari Oramo, Andrew Manze, Vassily Sinaisky, Paavo Järvi, Michael Sanderling, Yuri Bashmet and Sir Mark Elder.
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As soloist in the 2022/23 season, Sunwook will return to the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Tianyi Lu), London Symphony Orchestra (Michael Tilson Thomas), Chamber Orchestra of Europe to tour South Korea as well as to the Soul Philharmonic in their tour of Europe (Concertgebouw, Cadogan Hall). Sunwook will also return to Bournemouth Symphony both as soloist (Karabits) and to conduct Dvorak’s Cello Concerto alongside Brahms Symphony No. 2. Sunwook’s return to the Bournemouth Symphony as conductor follows his instant success having made his play-direct debut with the orchestra and international conducting debut with the KBS Symphony only last season. In August 2022, Sunwook also had the honour to conduct the Seoul Philharmonic in their National Liberation Day Concert marking the 77th anniversary of Korea’s National Liberation Day. Further conducting debuts this season include with the Fundación Excelentia Madrid and Macao Orchestra.
Recitals highlights to date include regular appearances in the “Piano 4 Etoiles” series at Salle Pleyel in Paris, as well as at the Wigmore Hall, the London International Piano Series (Queen Elizabeth Hall), Stockholm Konserthuset, Teatro Colon Buenos Aires, La Roque d’Antheron International Piano Festival in France, Kioi Hall in Tokyo, Seoul Arts Centree, Symphony Hall Osaka, Brussels Klara Festival, Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Klavier-Festival Ruhr and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festspiele.
Sunwook Kim’s debut recital disc was released on the Accentus label in October 2015, featuring Beethoven’s Waldstein and Hammerklavier sonatas, this was followed by a recording of Franck’s Prelude, choral et fugue paired with Brahms Sonata No.3. He has released further recordings of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas, Sonata No. 8; Pathetique, Sonata No. 14; Moonlight and Sonata No. 23; Appassionata as well as sonatas No. 30-32 and his most recent chamber music release features the Violin Sonatas of Beethoven in collaboration with Clara-Jumi Kang. His discography also includes multiple concerto recordings; on Accentus Music with the Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by Myung-Whun Chung featuring Brahms’ Piano Concerto no. 1 and Six Piano Pieces (2020) in addition to recordings on Deutsche Grammophon with the Seoul Philharmonic conducted by Myung-Whun Chung, a CD featuring Unsuk Chin’s Piano Concerto (2014) and a CD featuring Beethoven Concerto No.5 (2013).
Violinist Clara-Jumi Kang is an artist of supreme musicality, impeccable refinement and poise as borne out by the many awards and accolades she has received, since she first burst on the scene as winner of the Indianapolis International Violin Competition in 2010, hot on the heels of her successes at the Seoul Violin Competition (2009) and the Sendai Violin Competition (2010). Her cycle of Beethoven Violin Sonatas with pianist Sunwook Kim, released on Accentus last season, has received outstanding reviews and been nominated for an Opus Klassik Award 2022 (Instrumentalist of the Year).
Recent and current highlights include her debut at the BBC Proms with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Ryan Bancroft performing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, tours with the Munich Philharmonic and BBC Philharmonic under Myung-whun Chung and Juanjo Mena respectively, and performances with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and the Deutschekammerphilharmonie Bremen. In 2023 she will also tour Australasia for performances with the Melbourne Symphony, Auckland Philharmonic, West Australian Symphony Orchestra and KBS Symphony Orchestra.
She made her concerto debut in Hamburg at the age of five and has since performed with orchestras including the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Mariinsky Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic, and the Belgian National Orchestra with conductors such as Chung, Xavier-Roth, Petrenko, Paavo Järvi, and Yamada.
Further afield, her performances have taken her to the USA with the Atlanta, New Jersey, Indianapolis and Santa Fe Symphony Orchestras, as well as Asia with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, Taipei Symphony and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestras. 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).
Kang has recorded two albums for Decca: Modern Solo, featuring works including Schubert Erlkönig and Ysaÿe Sonatas, and a Brahms/Schumann album with Yeol-Eum Son. A dedicated chamber musician, she is a member of the Spectrum Concerts series at the Berlin Philharmonie and a regular visitor to festivals across Asia and Europe.
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. 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.
Intermusica represents Clara-Jumi Kang worldwide, excluding Spain, South Korea & Japan.
