Joan Kwuon is a critically-acclaimed soloist, described by The New York Times as “fiery, intensely musical and impassioned.”
Joan Kwuon, whom The New York Times describes as “fiery, intensely musical and impassioned,” enjoys a critically-acclaimed performing career appearing with leading international orchestras. She was previously head of the violin department at Cleveland Institute of Music, where she also currently teaches, and was on the violin faculty at The Juilliard School.
Ms. Kwuon made her debut at the invitation of Sir André Previn at the Tanglewood Music Festi-val in 2000 and was presented at Lincoln Center the following season. Since then, Ms. Kwuon has been engaged by celebrated orchestras, including playing Mozart Violin Concerti with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for Mozart’s 250th birthday, performing the Sibelius Violin Con-certo with the London Symphony Orchestra and Previn, and appearing with Previn and the Prometheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. She has also appeared with NHK Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Seattle Symphony, Beijing Symphony Orchestra, Jyväskylä Sinfonia of Finland, Moscow State Radio Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Chicago Philharmonic, Janáček Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfonica de Venezuela, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra in Turkey, Festival Internacional Cervantino in León, Mexico, Buffalo Philharmonic, Richmond Symphony, Bulgarian National Academic Orchestra, Orchestra Europa, and Busan Philharmonic.
An avid recital performer, Ms. Kwuon has appeared at the Metropolitan Museum with Previn, the Library of Congress with Sergei Babayan, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts with Previn. She has also performed at the Ravinia Festival, Caramoor’s Great Artists Series, San Francisco Performances, the Peggy Rockefeller Concerts in New York City, Krannert Center, Hoam Art Hall in Seoul, and the St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia.
In duet with Tony Bennett, Ms. Kwuon performed jazz classics at Lincoln Center Jazz and the Grammy Awards MusiCares Gala. As an active chamber musician, Ms. Kwuon has collaborated with members of The Juilliard Quartet, Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, Sergei Babayan, and Cho Liang Lin on series including the 92nd Street Y, Nevada Chamber Music Festival, and La Jolla’s Summerfest.
Born in Los Angeles, Ms. Kwuon began playing violin at age six. She attended Crossroads School and studied at Indiana University with Miriam Fried, The Juilliard School with Joel Smirnoff and Robert Mann, and Cleveland Institute of Music with Donald Weilerstein. In addition to her faculty positions at CIM and at The Juilliard School, Ms. Kwuon regularly teaches and performs at numerous music festivals including Heifetz International Music Institute, The Round Top Festival in Texas, Interlochen Violin Institute, Borromeo Music Festival in Switzerland, Great Mountains Music Festival in South Korea, and Bowdoin International Music Festival, as well as featured masterclasses for The Juilliard Starling-Delay Symposium and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland.
Signing a multi-disc contract with Azica Records, her upcoming release of recital works by Strauss, Mozart, and Previn will be followed by a complete Beethoven Violin and Piano Sonata recording project.