Myung-Wha Chung

A widely admired soloist, chamber musician and teacher, Professor Emerita of the Korean National University of Arts Myung-Wha Chung has performed the world over for over six decades. In addition to her performing career, she taught at New York’s Mannes College of Music and the Korean National University of Arts. In recent years, she led Korea’s PyeongChang Music Festival & School, organising and directing summer and winter festivals in Korea and abroad, including the USA, Germany and Austria.

Chung has performed both solo and chamber music in Korea and worldwide, with such leading orchestras as the Royal Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Halle and Birmingham in the UK, the Santa Cecilia in Rome; the Tonhalle, the Los Angeles and Houston. She has been a featured performer at many festivals, among them the Lucerne, Maggio Musicale (Florence), Spoleto, Birmingham, Evian and Dijon. She has performed at the White House, the United Nations General Assembly Hall and on nationally televised programmes in the United States, Europe and Korea.

Born to a Korean family of outstanding musicians, Myung-Wha Chung studied with Leonard Rose at the Juilliard and Gregor Piatigorsky at the University of Southern California and won numerous cello competitions. Her solo and Chung piano trio discs have been released on the Deutsche Grammophon, Decca and EMI labels. She has commissioned and premiered numerous new works, especially from Korean composers.