Joan Kwuon

Joan Kwuon, USA "[F]iery, intensely musical and impassioned playing" New York Times

Born and raised in Los Angeles, violinist Joan Kwuon made her Tanglewood Music Festival debut with the Brahms Violin Concerto at the invitation of Sir André Previn. Following this debut, she was presented in her New York debut in recital at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. Ms. Kwuon's virtuosity and radiant stage presence have been recognized by media ranging from The Today Show, CBS News and Lifetime Television to National Public Radio.

Highlights of Ms. Kwuon's recent seasons include the United States tour with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Celebrating Mozarts 250th birthday, she performed Mozart Violin Concerti conducted by Charles Dutoit and Matthias Bamert. Ms. Kwuon was the featured soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra and André Previn performing the Sibelius Concerto, and with Maestro Previn and the Prometheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall performing Mozart Concerto No. 3. She also appeared with Orchestra Europa with conductor Nayden Todorov, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales with Thierry Fischer, the Bulgarian National Academic Orchestra, the Jyväskylä Sinfonia of Finland with Patrick Gallois; the Moscow State Radio Symphony with Sergei Kondrashev; the NHK Symphony Orchestra with Heinz Wallberg; the Busan Philharmonic; Louisiana Philharmonic and the International Sejong Soloists. In February 2008, Joan Kwuon appeared in Sonata Recital with pianist André Previn at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. In that same season, Joan Kwuon performed the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, the Mozart Concerto No. 1 with the Buffalo Philharmonic, and the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the Amarillo Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Kwuon also performed the Brahms and Tchaikovsky Concerti with the State Symphony Orchestra of Mexico and Music Director Enrique Batiz on their American tour in Spring 2008.

Highlights of Ms. Kwuons 2008-09 season included a re-engagement with the State Symphony Orchestra of Mexico playing the Saint Saëns Concerto No. 3 in Mexico. She opened the Mixon Hall Masters Series at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Ravinia Festival Rising Stars Series, the College of Wooster Series and made her San Francisco recital debut on the prestigious San Francisco Performances Series. Ms. Kwuon performed the Beethoven Concerto at the Opening Gala of the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra with conductor Heiichiro Ohyama, the Mozart 3rd Concerto with the Cleveland Institute of Music Chamber Orchestra with Carl Topilow and the Sibelius Concerto with the UANL Symphony Orchestra in Monterrey, Mexico with Maestro Felix Carrasco-Cordova. She was invited to make her Chautauqua Festival debut appearing with conductor Gunther Herbig.

In the 2009-2010 season, Ms. Kwuon made her concerto debut performing the Beethoven Violin concerto in the Czech Republic with Maestro Theodore Kuchar and the Janacek Philharmonic, and her debut in Turkey performing the Brahms Violin Concerto with Maestro Gurer Aykal and the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra. Her re-engagements included the Amarillo Symphony opening their season with Mozart Sinfonia Concertante and Bartók First Rhapsody. Continuing her collaboration with Maestro Enrique Batiz, she was featured soloist at the Festival Internacional Cervantino in León, Mexico, performing Brahms Violin Concerto. Her recital appearances included the Hampton Arts Series, Tannery Pond Concerts, The Peggy Rockefeller Concerts in New York City, the Cal State University at Long Beach Recitals, and the L'Ermitage Foundation concert series in Los Angeles.

As a recitalist, Joan Kwuon made her Metropolitan Museum debut in 2006 and has been presented by venues including University of Illinois Krannert Center, Universities of Georgia, Rockefeller, Iowa, George Mason, Wooster College and the St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia. She has appeared in Boston on WGBH, on "Around New York" on WNYC, and is a frequest guest on "Live from WFMT" in Chicago. Ms. Kwuon has been engaged as guest artist at numerous international music festivals including Great Mountains Music Festival in Korea, Cité de la Musique and Consonance in France, the Summer Festival in Prague, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and La Jolla's Summerfest. She has enjoyed collaborations with Cho-Liang Lin, Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, the Juilliard String Quartet, Bright Sheng, Heidi Grant Murphy, Vladimir Feltsman, and Tony Bennett.

Ms. Kwuon received advanced degrees from Indiana University, The Juilliard School and the Cleveland Institute of Music. She has taught at the Juilliard School and is currently on the faculty at The Cleveland Institute of Music, and The Bowdoin International Music Festival.

Joan Kwuon is grateful to Elliott and Mona Golub for the generous loan of the 1734 "Spagnoletti" Guarneri del Gesù.

Artist's Webpage: cim.edu/about/bio/joan-kwuon

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