Violinist Janet Sung enjoys an acclaimed international career as a virtuoso soloist, praised for her lustrous tone, dynamic interpretations and bravura performances.
Janet Sung has been guest soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Aspen Chamber Symphony, as well as the orchestras of Adrian, Boise, Corpus Christi, Delaware, Dubuque, Fargo-Moorhead, Hartford, Owensboro, Traverse City, Wheeling and Wyoming. Abroad, she has been heard with South Korea’s Pusan Philharmonic 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 Vivaldi to Berg, she also reveals her repertoire’s diversity by presenting the works of 20th and 21st century composers and regularly touring with fiddler Mark O’Connor’s American String Celebration. Her current season includes the world premiere of Kenneth Fuchs' American Rhapsody for Violin & 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 also tours nationally with the American Chamber Players.
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 violin pedagogue, 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 School of Music, Hot Springs Music Festival, Sewanee Summer Music Festival and the Mark O'Connor Fiddle Camp. During the 2003-2004 season, Ms. Sung 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.
Janet Sung plays a c.1600 Maggini violin.