Violinist Clara-Jumi Kang and piano partner Kim Sun-wook reunite for duo recital after 5 years
Violinist Clara-Jumi Kang / Photo by Marco Borggreve
German-born violinist to play with conducting titans Barenboim, Mehta in coming months
Violinist Clara-Jumi Kang said there is hardly anyone she trusts musically more than pianist Kim Sun-wook as the two prepare for a nationwide duo recital tour in Korea — their first such collaboration in the country in five years.
“Among all the musicians I know, Sun-wook is definitely in the top five when it comes to passion for music,” Kang said at a press conference Wednesday at Credia Classic Club Studio in Jongno, Seoul.
Beginning May 23 at Seoul Arts Center Concert Hall, the duo will perform in 11 cities across Korea. The program features violin sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven, Ottorino Respighi, Mieczysław Weinberg and Richard Strauss.
Kang described recitals as more intimate than concerto performances with orchestras.
“A recital is a time to become closer to the audience and to share a more personal musical world,” she said. “Sun-wook and I have collaborated often as soloist and conductor, but this was a program I especially wanted to present in Korea.”
The duo’s recent performances have already drawn praise abroad, including at Berlin’s Pierre Boulez Saal last year and at Walt Disney Concert Hall in January. Another performance is scheduled for August at the Verbier Festival.
The pair previously recorded Beethoven’s complete violin sonatas together in 2020 and later toured nationwide with the program.
Pianist and conductor Kim Sun-wook / Korea Times file
“I can feel how much Sun-wook has grown as a conductor over the past five years,” Kang said. “Performing four violin sonatas in one concert requires enormous trust in the pianist.”
She emphasized the importance of the piano in violin sonatas.
“The violin is a single-line instrument, so the piano enriches and illuminates the music harmonically and musically,” she said. “Respighi and Strauss especially place huge importance on the piano part, and that was one reason I chose them with Sun-wook in mind.”
The recital also reflects Kang’s evolving musical direction. Works by Respighi and Weinberg are not frequently performed in Korea. Kang first encountered Weinberg’s music about a decade ago while collaborating with violinist Gidon Kremer.
At the press event, she spoke at length about Weinberg, a Polish-born Jewish composer whose family perished during the Holocaust. “For me, understanding a composer’s background is important,” she said.
Although the program includes emotionally heavy works by Respighi and Weinberg, Kang said she ultimately wanted the recital to end with “love and hope,” which led her to include Strauss’ youthful and heroic violin sonata.
Kang also noted that performing on the 1702 Stradivarius "Thunis" violin, which she has played since 2023 with sponsorship from Kia, has influenced her artistic direction.
“It has a masculine quality and a sense of gravity pulling downward,” she said. “Since playing this instrument, my repertoire has become more challenging and broader.”
In August, Kang is also set to perform with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra under conductor Daniel Barenboim in Germany. The collaboration comes 27 years after a planned appearance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra fell through because of an injury when she was 12 years old.
Next year, she is scheduled to perform with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta, who recently turned 90.
“It’s an honor to share the final chapters of maestros like Zubin Mehta and Barenboim,” she said.
Kang began studying violin at age 3 and entered the preparatory school of the State University of Music and Performing Arts Mannheim at age 4 as its youngest student. She gained international recognition after winning major competitions, including the Indianapolis International Violin Competition in 2010.
Now an artist-in-residence with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra for the 2025-26 season, Kang said she still pushes herself constantly.
“Performers are evaluated every day, so there’s no room for complacency,” she said. “Winning a competition is not even the real starting point. Being a musician is something you have to view over the long term, with patience.”
“I want to break the perception that violinists have short careers,” she said. “My goal is to continue performing on stage into my 70s without injury.”
This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.