Kyung Wha Chung facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kyung Wha Chung
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| Background information | |
| Born | 26 March 1948 Seoul, South Korea |
| Occupation(s) | Violinist |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul |
정경화
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| Hanja |
鄭京和
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| Revised Romanization | Jeong Gyeonghwa |
| McCune–Reischauer | Chŏng Kyŏnghwa |
Kyung Wha Chung (Hangul: 정경화; born 26 March 1948) is a famous South Korean violinist. She is known around the world for her amazing musical talent.
Contents
Early Life and Learning Music
Kyung Wha Chung was born in Seoul, South Korea. She was the middle child in a family of seven kids. Her dad worked as an exporter, and her mom ran a restaurant.
Kyung Wha started playing the piano when she was just four years old. At age seven, she began learning the violin. It quickly became clear that she was much better at the violin! People soon saw her as a child prodigy, which means someone with incredible talent at a young age. By the time she was nine, she was already playing the difficult Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.
She won many music competitions in Korea. Kyung Wha and her brothers and sisters often toured the country, performing music. They played both by themselves and as a group. As they became famous in Korea, their mother felt that the country was too small for them to become even bigger musicians. So, she decided to move the family to the United States.
All of Kyung Wha's siblings played classical instruments. Three of them became professional musicians. Her younger brother, Myung-whun Chung, is a conductor and pianist. Her older sister, Myung-wha Chung, is a cellist and teaches at the Korean National University of Arts in Seoul. Later in their careers, these three siblings started performing together as the Chung Trio.
When she was thirteen, Kyung Wha arrived in the United States. She went to the Juilliard School in New York, a very famous music school. Her older sister, Myung-Soh Chung, who played the flute, also went there. At Juilliard, Kyung Wha studied with a great teacher named Ivan Galamian.
Becoming a World-Famous Violinist
In 1967, Kyung Wha Chung and another talented musician named Pinchas Zukerman both won the Edgar Leventritt Competition. This was the first time in the competition's history that two people shared the top prize! Winning this award led to many chances for her to perform in North America. She played with major orchestras like the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. She even filled in for the famous violinist Nathan Milstein at a special event at the White House.
Her next big chance came in 1970. She stepped in for Itzhak Perlman to play with the London Symphony Orchestra. This performance was a huge success! It led to many more concerts in the United Kingdom and a contract to record music with Decca/London. Her first album, with André Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra, featured concertos by Tchaikovsky and Sibelius. This album brought her international attention. In Europe, Chung continued to study music with Joseph Szigeti.
Kyung Wha Chung has made many recordings of important violin concertos, including those by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Berg. She has also recorded chamber music, which is music for a small group of instruments. These recordings include violin sonatas by Brahms, Franck, Debussy, Respighi, and Strauss. Her recording with Krystian Zimerman won a Gramophone Award for Best Chamber Recording. She also recorded Vivaldi's Four Seasons, which was highly praised.
In 1997, she celebrated 30 years since her international debut. She held special concerts at the Barbican Centre in London and in her hometown of Seoul, South Korea. In 2008, she had to stop performing for a while due to illness and injury. She returned to live performances in London in December 2014.
Kyung Wha has two sons, Frederick and Eugene.
Teaching Music
In 2007, Kyung Wha Chung joined the Juilliard School as a teacher. She taught in both the main Music Division and the Pre-College Division. She has received important awards for her contributions to music. In 2005, she received the Kyung-Ahm Prize. In 2011, she was given the Ho-Am Prize in the Arts for her 40-year career as a violinist and teacher.
Selected Recordings
Kyung Wha Chung has a large collection of recorded music. Here are some of her notable albums:
- In 1970, she released her debut album with the London Symphony Orchestra, featuring concertos by Tchaikovsky and Sibelius.
- She recorded concertos by Bruch and Walton in the early 1970s.
- In 1975, she released a solo album of music by Bach.
- She recorded concertos by Prokofiev, Bartók, and Elgar in the late 1970s.
- Her 1980 album included the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Vienna Philharmonic.
- She also recorded chamber music, such as the Franck and Debussy Violin Sonatas with pianist Radu Lupu.
- In 1987, she released "Con Amore," an album of romantic violin pieces.
- Her 2001 recording of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons was very popular.
- More recently, in 2016, she released an album of Bach Sonatas & Partitas.
Recordings with the Chung Trio
Kyung Wha Chung also performed and recorded with her siblings, Myung-wha Chung (cello) and Myung-whun Chung (piano), as the Chung Trio.
- They recorded Dvořák's Piano Trios in 1986.
- In 1987, they released an album with Mendelssohn's Piano Trio No. 1 and Brahms's Piano Trio No. 1.
- They also recorded Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio and Shostakovich's Piano Trio No. 1 in 1988.
- In 1988, they performed Beethoven's Triple Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra.
- Their 1992 album featured Beethoven's Piano Trio Nos. 4 and 7, known as the "Archduke" Trio.
See Kyung-Wha Chung discography at discogs.com
See also
In Spanish: Kyung-wha Chung para niños
