Born in Germany under a musical family, Clara-Jumi Kang started violin at the age of three. Only one year later, she enrolled at Mannheim Musikhochschule as the youngest student ever accepted to study there under Valery Gradov. A year later, she went on to study with Zakhar Bron at Lübeck Musikhochschule. At the age of six, she was on the cover of german magazine ‘Die Zeit’ writing a main article featuring her. By then, she had already given her debut with Hamburg Symphony at the age of 5.

Just turning 7, she got accepted at the Juilliard School with full scholarship to study under Dorothy Delay. At such young age, Clara had already performed with orchestras such as Leipzig Gewandthaus, Hamburg Symphony, Kiel Philharmonie, Nice Philharmonie, Atlanta Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, KBS Orchestra, Korean Chamber Ensemble. At age nine, she recorded the Beethoven Triple Concerto and a solo recital program for cd label ‘TELDEC’.

Clara went on to study Bachelor and Master degree at age sixteen with Nam-Yun Kim at the Korean National University of Arts. During that period, she won top prizes at Major International Violin Competition such as Tibor Varga Violin Competition in 2007, 1st Prize at Seoul Violin Competition in 2009, 2nd Prize at Hannover Violin Competition in 2009, 1st prize at Sendai Violin Competition in 2010, and was awarded 1st prize at the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis in 2010 with additional five special prizes. Clara completed her last Studies at Munich Musikhochschule from 2011-2013 with Christoph Poppen.

Clara has established herself as a Soloist, invited to perform with orchestras such as Dresden Kapellsolisten, New Jersey Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Santa Fe Symphony, Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, Osaka Philharmonic, Nagoya Philharmonic, Sendai Philharmonic, Hiroshima Symphony, Kanazawa Orchestra, Taipei National Symphony, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra as well as with all the leading Korean Orchestras such as Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, KBS Orchestra, Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra and Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra.

Clara released her first Solo Album for DECCA ‘Modern Solo’ in 2011 including solo works such as Ernst Last Rose, Schubert Erl König, Ysaye Solo Sonatas.

Highlights of 2011/12 season included numerous concerts with orchestras and recitals in USA, recital at Carnegie Hall (Stern Auditorium), recital tour in Korea as well as appearances throughout Asia.

2013/14 season concerts included Tour in Korea with Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra/Myung-Whun Chung, Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra/Suntory Hall, KBS Symphony Orchestra/Yoel Levi, Taipei Symphony/Gilbert Varga among other appearances throughout USA, Europe and Asia, Highlights of year 2014 were concert tours with Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and St.Petersburg/Yuri Temirkanov.

Last season 15/16, collaboration were with Kremerata Baltica/Gidon Kremer, Moscow Virtuosi/Vladimir Spivakov, Mariinsky Orchestra/Valery Gergiev, New Japan Philharmonic/Hartmut Haenchen, Seoul Philharmonic/Lionel Bringuier, Berlin Baroque Soloists, Macao Philharmonic/Lü Jia, Köln Chamber Orchestra/Christoph Poppen, Tokyo Philharmonic/Myung-Whun Chung to only name few.

This upcoming 16/17 season, she will appear with orchestras such as Mariinsky Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de Belgique, Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra, National Philharmonic of Russia, China NCPA Orchestra.

Some of the collaborating Conductors will be Andrey Boreyko, Valery Gergiev, Lü Jia, Gidon Kremer, Christoph Poppen and Vladimir Spivakov.

A very devoted Chamber Musician, she collaborates with musicians as much as possible. She visits Festivals such as Pyeongchang Music Festival, Marvao Music Festival, Hong Kong Music Festival, Ishikawa Music Festival almost annually.

In 2012, Clara was selected one of the ‘100 Future’s most promising, influential people of Korea’ by Korean major newspaper DongA Times and also received the 2012 Daewon Music Award for her outstanding concert achievements internationally. She was awarded “Kumho Musician of the year” for 2014.

Clara resides in Munich and currently plays on Antonio Stradivarius ‘ex-Strauss’ 1708, generously on loan by Samsung Cultural Foundation Korea since 2015.

Past Instruments:

– 2010-2013 Stradivarius ‘ex-Gingold’ 1683, loaned by Indianapolis Competition

– 2013-2015 Guarneri Del Gesu ‘ex-Moeller’, 1725, loaned by Samsung Cultural Foundation Korea