Kyung-Wha Chung: Violin Recital
Sunday, November 2, 2025 @ 4:00 pm
Tickets go on sale June 23, 2025
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Adult: $60-$84
Student: $25
Youth (18 & under): $15
Tickets include free parking.
321 Main St, Worcester
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Kyung-Wha Chung: Violin Recital
With Kevin Kenner, piano
Kyung-Wha Chung is a South Korean-born violinist, who brings her renowned musicality to performances with the world’s most prestigious orchestras under the baton of conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Claudio Abbado, and Bernard Haitink. Chung has pleased millions of listeners with her powerful sound. She’s spent her career bringing audiences together to hear the limitless sound of the violin, and brings that same grandiose to Worcester.
In this rich program for violin and piano, Chung explores the personalities of the violin through many thematic voices. These four works display lush, intense, and virtuosic writing for violin, drawing the listener in with natural moments of introspection followed by passionate explosions of sound. From Schoenberg’s poignant expressivity to Debussy’s flowery drama, these works push the boundaries of solo violin listeners may be used to. This program – while delicate, lyrical, and dramatic – is inspirational, touching on four distinct types of writing for violin.
PROGRAM
Franz Schubert – Fantasie in C major , D. 934
Arnold Schoenberg – Phantasy for Violin , Op. 47
César Franck – Sonata in A Major
Kyung-Wha Chung
Kyung-Wha Chung is recognized throughout the world as one of the finest violinists of her generation. A prolific recording artist, her dazzling and probing artistry has made her a much-acclaimed performer throughout her forty-year career. Lauded for her passion, her musicality, and the intense excitement that she brings to her performances, Chung’s uniquely expressive interpretations of the violin literature have established her as an artist of the very highest stature. Born in South Korea, Chung first heard the violin at the age of six. Instantly mesmerized by its tone, she was swiftly recognized as a child prodigy, making her concert debut aged nine with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, performing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. At thirteen, Chung enrolled at The Juilliard School, New York, and began studying with renowned pedagogue Ivan Galamian, and later with Joseph Szigeti. Upon winning the prestigious Edgar Leventritt Competition in 1967, Chung was immediately engaged by major American orchestras – including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic – and also performed at the exclusive White House Gala. She made her sensational European debut in 1970, performing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with Sir André Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra, at London’s Royal Festival Hall. This concert was met with great critical acclaim and public attention, and – as a result – Chung received offers of concerts throughout the United Kingdom. Subsequently obtaining an exclusive recording contract with Decca/London, Chung’s debut album – of the Tchaikovsky and Sibelius concertos with Sir André Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra – brought her to international attention, and she continued to perform with the world’s greatest orchestras (including the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, London Philharmonic and Boston Symphony Orchestra, among others). Throughout her career, Kyung Wha Chung has enjoyed working alongside the world’s finest conductors, including Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Charles Dutoit, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Muti, Sir André Previn, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Georg Solti and Klaus Tennstedt. Her chamber music partnerships have included high calibre pianists such as Peter Frankl, Kevin Kenner, Stephen Kovacevich, Radu Lupu, and Krystian Zimerman.
Kyung-Wha Chung has recorded numerous award-winning albums, and her extensive discography reflects the impressive breadth of her repertoire. Following her recording contract with Decca/London, in 1988 Chung subsequently signed for a period with EMI Classics, and also released recordings with RCA and Deutsche Grammophon. Winner of two Gramophone Awards (the first, for her Deutsche Grammophon album of Strauss and Respighi sonatas with Krystian Zimerman; the second, for her EMI recording of Bartók’s Second Violin Concerto with Sir Simon Rattle), Chung has also received many prizes and top honors – including the Medal of Civil Merit from the South Korean government, and the Ho Am Prize for the Arts in 2011.
Following an injury to her hand, Chung stopped performing in 2005. During this time away from the stage, she found a new calling as a teacher, joining the faculty of her alma mater, The Juilliard School. In addition to this, Kyung Wha Chung is Chair Professor for Music at Ewha University in Seoul, and Charity Ambassador for Better World (an active patron for their Child Rescue Project in Africa). She is also the Artistic Director of the Great Mountains Music Festival & School, based in South Korea.
Five years after her retirement, 2010 marked Chung’s triumphant return to the Asian stage. Greeted by enthusiastic audiences and the highest critical acclaim, in 2013 she embarked on an extensive Asian tour of fifteen cities, including Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing. Kyung Wha Chung made her much anticipated return to the European concert platform in December 2014, with a national UK tour culminating in a sensational sell-out recital at the Royal Festival Hall, London. In July 2016 she opened the prestigious Verbier Festival, performing the Brahms Violin Concerto with the Verbier Festival Orchestra and Charles Dutoit. Kyung Wha Chung has signed an exclusive international record contract with Warner Classics, the first release of which – Solo Bach Sonatas & Partitas – was released in October 2016. Chung has performed works from the CD at Suntory Hall (January 2017), The Barbican (May 2017) and Carnegie Hall (May 2017).
Kevin Kenner, piano
Recognized as one of the top Chopin interpreters of our time, Kevin Kenner was the top prize winner in the 1990 Chopin Competition in Warsaw, as well as top prizes in the Tchaikovsky Competition and the Terrance Judd Competition, among others. Born in California, Kenner was introduced early to the classical music traditions of Poland and studied as a teenager with Poland’s eminent professor Ludwik Stefański in Cracow. When he returned to the U.S. he continued his studies with Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and worked with Leonard Bernstein at the Tanglewood Music Center. Following a concert tour with conductor Stanisław Skrowaczewski, who frequently performed and recorded with Artur Rubinstein, described his collaborations with Kenner to be the most sensitive and beautiful he remembered.
He has performed and recorded with violinist Kyung-Wha Chung and concertized with the Tokyo, Escher, Belcea, Mosaiques, Apollon Musagete, Endellion and Vogler Quartets. In addition, he has frequently been invited to appear at the Verbier Festival and Warsaw’s “Chopin and His Europe” Festival.
A distinguished recording artist, Kenner’s interpretations of works by Paderewski and Chopin were each picked as recordings of the month by Grammophone magazine. Other recordings were heralded by Diapason, Fanfare and Polish National Radio. After teaching for more than a decade as professor at London’s Royal College of Music, Kenner accepted a post at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, where he continues to prepare many young talented pianists for international performance careers. He has served as juror at the Busoni Competition in Bolzano and at the Chopin International Competition in Warsaw among many others.
The Washington Post
“You listen to him and think how obvious it is that the music should be played this way andit seems so simple that you wonder why everyone doesn’t do it.”
The Strad
“Just the right balance of luminous lyricism and drama”
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