Kyung Wha Chung (; born 26 March 1948) is a South Korean violinist.
Early years and education Kyung Wha Chung was born in Seoul as the middle child among seven siblings. Her father worked as an exporter, and her mother operated a restaurant. She started taking piano lessons at the age of four and began learning the violin at the age of seven, where she demonstrated a greater aptitude for the violin. She became recognized as a child prodigy, and by the age of 9 she was already playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. As time progressed she won most of the famous music competitions in Korea. With her siblings, Chung toured around the country, performing music both as a soloist and as a part of an ensemble. As the children became famous in Korea, Chung's mother felt that it was too small a country for her children to further their musical careers , and she decided to move to the United States. All of Chung's siblings played classical instruments and three of them would become professional musicians. Her younger brother, Myung-whun Chung is a conductor and a pianist, and her older sister, Myung-wha Chung is a cellist and teacher at the Korean National University of Arts in Seoul. The three of them began performing professionally later in their careers as the Chung Trio.
At age thirteen, she arrived in the United States. She followed her older flautist sister Myung-Soh Chung in attending the Juilliard School in New York, where she studied with Ivan Galamian.
Musical career In 1967, Chung and Pinchas Zukerman were the joint winners of the Edgar Leventritt Competition, the first time for such an outcome in the history of the competition."Contests: Cookie & Pinky Come Through", Time Magazine, 26 May 1967. This prize led to several engagements in North America including performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. She substituted for Nathan Milstein for his White House Gala when he became indisposed.
Her next big opportunity came in 1970 as a substitute for Itzhak Perlman, with the London Symphony Orchestra. The success of this engagement led to many other performances in the United Kingdom and a recording contract with Decca/London. Her debut album with André Previn and London Symphony Orchestra, which coupled Tchaikovsky and Sibelius concertos, brought her international attention, including the top recommendation on the BBC Radio 3's Building a Library programme, which compared the various recordings of the Sibelius. In Europe, Chung continued her musical studies with Joseph Szigeti.
Her commercial recordings include core repertoire violin concerti, including Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Berg. She has recorded chamber works including the Brahms violin sonatas, Franck & Debussy sonatas, and Respighi & Strauss sonatas (with Krystian Zimerman, a recording which earned her a Gramophone Award for Best Chamber Recording). Other recordings include Vivaldi's Four Seasons, which was selected as Gramophone's editorial choice, and the Brahms violin concerto with the Vienna Philharmonic under Simon Rattle.
In 1997, she celebrated the 30th anniversary of her international debut at Barbican Centre in London and in her hometown of Seoul, South Korea. In 2008, illness and injury caused her to temporarily halt her performing career Her next return to live performance was in London at the Royal Festival Hall in December 2014. However, her reaction to the audience coughing, including a persistent cough from a child in her line of vision and her subsequent speaking to the child's parents, caused widely reported controversy at this performance.
Chung has two sons, Frederick and Eugene, from her past marriage to the British businessman Geoffrey Leggett. Their 1984 marriage ended in divorce.
Educator In 2007, Chung joined Juilliard as a member of the faculty of the school's Music and Pre-College Divisions. She received the Kyung-Ahm Prize in 2005. In 2011, she received the Ho-Am Prize in the Arts division in recognition of her 40-year-long career as a violinist and educator.
Discography
Solo recordings Year of issue Album details Collaborating artists Record label First Issue1970Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto / Sibelius: Violin ConcertoLondon Symphony Orchestra(conducted by André Previn)DeccaSXL 64931972Bruch: Violin Concerto / Scottish FantasiaRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra(conducted by Rudolf Kempe)DeccaSXL 65731973Walton: Violin Concerto / Stravinsky: Violin ConcertoLondon Symphony Orchestra(conducted by André Previn)DeccaSXL 66011975Bach: Partita No. 2 in D minor; Sonata No. 3 in C MajorDeccaSXL 67211976Saint-Saëns: Violin Concerto No. 3 / Vieuxtemps: Violin Concerto No. 5London Symphony Orchestra(conducted by Lawrence Foster)DeccaSXL 67591977Prokofiev: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2London Symphony Orchestra(conducted by André Previn)DeccaSXL 67731977Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 2London Philharmonic Orchestra(conducted by Sir Georg Solti)DeccaSXL 68021977Elgar: Violin ConcertoLondon Philharmonic Orchestra(conducted by Sir Georg Solti)DeccaSXL 68421978Saint-Saëns: Havanaise; Introduction and Rondo / Chausson: Poeme / Ravel: TziganeLondon Philharmonic Orchestra(conducted by Charles Dutoit)DeccaSXL 68511980Beethoven: Violin ConcertoVienna Philharmonic(conducted by Kirill Kondrashin)DeccaSXDL 75081980Franck: Violin Sonata / Debussy: Violin SonataRadu LupuDeccaSXL 69441980Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 1 / Schumann: Piano Trio No. 1André Previn (Piano) Paul Tortelier (Cello)His Master's VoiceASD 38941981Bach: Trio Sonatas BWV 1038, 1039 & 1079James Galway (Flute) Phillip Moll (Harpsichord)Moray Welsh (Cello)RCA Red Seal1981Lalo: Symphonie Espagnole / Saint-Saëns: Violin Concerto No. 1Montreal Symphony Orchestra(conducted by Charles Dutoit)DeccaSXDL 75271982Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto / Mendelssohn: Violin ConcertoMontreal Symphony Orchestra(conducted by Charles Dutoit)DeccaSXDL 75581984Berg: Violin Concerto / Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 1Chicago Symphony Orchestra(conducted by Sir Georg Solti)Decca411 804-11987Con Amore (Romantic violin works by Kreisler and other composers)Phillip Moll (Piano)Decca417 289-11988Franck: Violin Sonata / Debussy: Violin Sonata /Phillip Moll (Piano)Decca1989Dvořák: Violin Concerto Op. 53; Romance Op. 11Philadelphia Orchestra(conducted by Riccardo Muti)EMI1989Strauss: Violin Sonata Op. 18 / Respighi: Violin SonataKrystian Zimerman (Piano)Deutsche Grammophon1989Beethoven: Violin Concerto / Bruch: Violin ConcertoLondon Philharmonic Orchestra(conducted by Klaus Tennstedt)EMI2001Vivaldi: Le Quattro Stagioni, The Four SeasonsSt Luke's Chamber Ensemble(part of Orchestra of St. Luke's)EMI Classics2016Bach Sonatas & PartitasWarner Classics01902959441622018Beau Soir – Fauré, Franck, Debussy – Works for Violin and PianoKevin Kenner (Piano)Warner Classics0190295708085
Chung trio recordings Year of issue Album details Collaborating artists Record label1986Dvořák: Piano Trios Nos. 1 & 3Myung-wha Chung (Cello)Myung-whun Chung (Piano)Decca1987Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 1 / Brahms: Piano Trio No. 1Myung-wha Chung (Cello)Myung-whun Chung (Piano)Decca1988Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio in A Minor / Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 1Myung-wha Chung (Cello)Myung-whun Chung (Piano)EMI1988Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Two RomancesMyung-wha Chung (Cello)Myung-whun Chung (Piano)Philharmonia Orchestra(conducted by Myung-whun Chung)Deutsche Grammophon1992Beethoven: Piano Trio Nos. 4 & 7 "Archduke"Myung-wha Chung (Cello)Myung-whun Chung (Piano)EMI
See Kyung-Wha Chung discography at discogs.com
References
External links [ Kyung Wha Chung] at allmusic Kyung-Wha Chung, "I have always welcomed children to my concerts". The Guardian, Music Blog, 9 December 2014 "The Celebrated Korean Violinist Kyung Wha Chung speaking with Pete Myers", Radio Netherlands Archives, 1982