Violinist JANET SUNG enjoys an acclaimed international career as a virtuoso soloist, praised for her lustrous tone and impassioned, bravura performances.

Janet Sung has been guest soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Aspen Chamber Symphony and Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, as well as the orchestras of Adrian, Boise, Bozeman, Corpus Christi, Delaware, Dubuque, Fargo-Moorhead, Hartford, Owensboro, Richmond (IN), Springfield (Massachusetts & Ohio), Traverse City, Wheeling and Wyoming. Abroad, she has been heard with South Korea’s Pusan Philharmonic Orchestra, Germany’s Stelzen Festival Orchestra and Russia’s Omsk Philharmonic Orchestra and National Symphonic Orchestra of Bashkortostan. Her solo performances have frequently been aired on radio and television, nationally and internationally, including multiple broadcasts of her performance of Korngold’s Violin Concerto on NPR’s “Performance Today.” Acclaimed for her compelling performances of traditional works from Bach to Berg, she also reveals her repertoire’s diversity by presenting the works of the 20th and 21st century and regularly touring with fiddler Mark O’Connor’s American String Celebration. In 2009, Ms. Sung presented the world premiere of Kenneth Fuchs’ American Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra.
 
In recital, Janet Sung has been presented in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Louisville, New York City and Pittsburgh, as well as in Odense, Denmark, Lausanne, Switzerland and Queenstown, New Zealand. She is also a frequently heard artist at distinguished music festivals, including: Aspen Music Festival, Hot Springs Music Festival, Sewanee Summer Music Festival and Switzerland’s Lucerne Festival. Ms. Sung is also a frequent guest at numerous festivals and with the American Chamber Players, touring nationally.
 
Janet Sung was chosen by Leonard Slatkin as the recipient of the Passamaneck Award, for which she performed at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Music Hall for the Y Music Society Concert Series. A winner of the Aspen Music Festival’s Nakamichi Violin Competition, she has also been awarded other top prizes and grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, National Federation of Music Clubs Competition and Cho Chang Tsung Foundation.

A native of New York City, Janet Sung began violin studies at the age of seven, making her public debut the following year. At age nine, she made her orchestral debut, performing with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. The following year, she began a decade of private studies with the renowned violinist, Josef Gingold, a period that overlapped with her attendance
at Harvard University, from which she graduated with honors with a double degree in anthropology and music. Subsequently, Ms. Sung was invited to study on full scholarship with the esteemed teacher, Dorothy DeLay, at The Juilliard School. She also studied extensively with Masao Kawasaki, David Cerone, Eugene Phillips and the Juilliard String Quartet.
 
Highly sought after as an artist-teacher, Janet Sung has conducted masterclasses throughout the country, including The Hartt School of the University of Hartford, Harvard University, The Juilliard School and Oberlin Conservatory of Music. She has also served as faculty at The Juilliard School (initially as the Starling/DeLay Institute Fellow), State University of New York at Fredonia and the Mark O’Connor Fiddle Camp. During the 2003-2004 season, she returned to Harvard University as the Clifton Visiting Artist for the “Learning from Performers” program, whose previous guests included Isaac Stern, James Galway, Mark Morris and Quincy Jones. In 2010, Ms. Sung was appointed Associate Professor of Violin at the DePaul University School of Music in Chicago.
 
Janet Sung plays a c.1600 Maggini violin.

BACH
Concerto #1 in a, BWV 1041
Concerto #2 in E, BWV 1042
BARBER
Concerto, Op. 14 (1941)
BARTOK
Concerto #2 (1938)
Rhapsody #2
BEETHOVEN
Concerto in D, Op. 61
Concerto in C for Violin, Cello & Piano, Op. 56 (“Triple”)
Romance #1, Op. 40
Romance #2, Op. 50
BERG
Concerto (1935)
BRAHMS
Concerto in D, Op. 77
Concerto in a for Violin & Cello, Op. 102
BRUCH
Concerto #1 in g, Op. 26
Scottish Fantasy, Op. 46
CHAUSSON
Poème, Op. 25
DVORAK
Concerto in a, Op. 53
ELGAR
Concerto in b, Op. 61
FARBERMAN
Double Concerto for Violin & Percussion
FUCHS
American Rhapsody
KHACHATURIAN
Concerto in d (1940)
KORNGOLD
Concerto in D, Op. 35 (1946)
LALO
Symphonie espagnole, Op. 21
MENDELSSOHN
Concerto in e, Op. 64
MOZART
Concerto #2 in D, K. 211
Concerto #3 in G, K. 216
Concerto #4 in D, K. 218
Concerto #5 in A, K. 219
NIELSEN
Concerto, Op. 33
PROKOFIEV
Concerto #1 in D, Op. 19
Concerto #2 in g, Op. 63
RAVEL
Tzigane (1924)
SAINT-SAËNS
Concerto #3 in b, Op. 61
Havanaise, Op. 83
Introduction & Rondo capriccioso, Op. 28
SARASATE
Zigeunerweisen, Op. 21, #1
SCHNITTKE
Concerto Grosso #3 for 2 Violins & Chamber Orchestra (1985)
SHOSTAKOVICH
Concerto #1 in a, Op. 99
SIBELIUS
Concerto in d, Op. 47
SPOHR
Concerto #8 in a, Op. 47
STRAVINSKY
Concerto in D (1931)
TCHAIKOVSKY
Concerto in D, Op. 35
Meditation, Op. 42, #1
Valse-Scherzo, Op. 34
VIEUXTEMPS
Concerto #4 in d, Op. 31
Concerto #5 in a, Op. 37
VIOTTI
Concerto #2 in E
VIVALDI
The Four Seasons, Op. 8
Concerto in C for 2 Violins, Op. 3, #8
WALTON
Concerto in b (1941)
WEILL
Concerto for Violin & Wind Orchestra, Op. 12
WIENIAWSKI
Concerto #2 in d, Op. 22

VIVALDI: The Four Seasons
with John Dodson/Adrian Symphony Orchestra
private label

"The Brahms Violin Concerto is the most-feared by many violinists, not necessarily because it is so unusually difficult from a technical standpoint, but because it requires a towering and confident musical personality to be convincing. Sung is a musical player with good instincts. Both strength and conviction she has, and especially in the radiant slow movement, she demonstrated that Brahms, as dour and craft-conscious as he could sometimes be, was also capable of just singing."
HARTFORD COURANT

"Guest violinist Janet Sung showed complete command of the piece [Korngold Violin Concerto], from its lighter, softer moments to its more frantic, fast-paced interludes. Sung helped make the piece fascinating."
CORPUS CHRISTI CALLER-TIMES

"Joanna Maurer and Janet Sung’s well-matched tone and intonation worked well with Prokofiev’s Sonata for Two Violins. In their hands, the communication of the duet became a riveting human conversation."
THE WASHINGTON POST

"In my role as concert reviewer, I typically find myself reaching into my stash of superlatives when describing guest soloists. After hearing Sung’s performance, I find myself really wishing I’d held a couple in reserve to describe this amazing virtuoso. She is truly a consummate and inspiring artist."
THE FORUM (Fargo, ND)

"Whether you were hearing this piece [Vivaldi The Four Seasons] for the first time or the 500th, Sung’s bravura work was enough to put you on the edge of your seat. It certainly earned her every bit of the lengthy (and wildly enthusiastic) standing ovation she received."
THE DAILY TELEGRAM (Adrian, MI)

"Sung is an intelligent musician with an attractive tonal palette including both lustrous and husky timbre on the lower strings. She was persuasive in Debussy’s only Sonata for Violin and Piano, phrasing the music with notable clarity and purpose."
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW

10/16/2010 (8pm) DePAUL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Michael Lewanski, conductor
DePaul University Concert Hall
Beethoven: Violin Concerto

10/23/2010 (8pm) LUDWIG SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Thomas Ludwig, conductor
Roswell Cultural Arts Center (GA)
Bruch: Violin Concerto #1
 
11/21/2010 (2:30pm) TACOMA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Harvey Felder, conductor
Rialto Theater, Broadway Center for the Performing Arts
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto
 
5/15/2011 (4pm) FINGER LAKES CHAMBER ENSEMBLE
The First Unitarian Society of Ithaca
Brahms: Piano Quartet #2
with Roberta Crawford, violist
Stefan Reuss, cellist
Michael Salmirs, pianist

6/5/2011 (7pm) WESTERVILLE SYMPHONY
Peter Stafford Wilson, conductor
Fritsche Theatre at Cowan Hall, Otterbein College
Saint-Saëns: Violin Concerto #3