# Kyung Wha Chung

Kyung Wha Chung (Korean: 정경화; born 26 March 1948) is a South Korean violinist.

## Early years and education

Kyung Wha Chung was born in Seoul as the middle of the seven children in her family. Her father was an exporter, and her mother ran a restaurant. She began piano studies at age 4, and violin studies at age 7, where she proved more suited to the violin. She became recognized as a child prodigy, and by the age of 9 she was already playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. As time progressed she won most of the famous music competitions in Korea. With her siblings, Chung toured around the country, performing music both as a soloist and as a part of an ensemble. As the children became famous in Korea, Chung's mother felt that it was too small a country for her children to further their musical careers, and she decided to move to the United States. All of Chung's siblings played classical instruments and three of them would become professional musicians. Her younger brother, Myung-whun Chung is a conductor and a pianist, and her older sister, Myung-wha Chung is a cellist and teacher at the Korean National University of Arts in Seoul. The three of them began performing professionally later in their careers as the Chung Trio.
At age thirteen, she arrived in the United States. She followed her older flautist sister Myung-Soh Chung in attending the Juilliard School in New York, where she studied with Ivan Galamian.

## Musical career

In 1967, Chung and Pinchas Zukerman were the joint winners of the Edgar Leventritt Competition, the first time for such an outcome in the history of the competition. This prize led to several engagements in North America including performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. She substituted for Nathan Milstein for his White House Gala when he became indisposed.
Her next big opportunity came in 1970 as a substitute for Itzhak Perlman, with the London Symphony Orchestra. The success of this engagement led to many other performances in the United Kingdom and a recording contract with Decca/London. Her debut album with André Previn and London Symphony Orchestra, which coupled Tchaikovsky and Sibelius concertos, brought her international attention, including the top recommendation on the BBC Radio 3's Building a Library programme, which compared the various recordings of the Sibelius. In Europe, Chung continued her musical studies with Joseph Szigeti.
Her commercial recordings include core repertoire violin concerti, including Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Berg. She has recorded chamber works including the Brahms violin sonatas, Franck & Debussy sonatas, and Respighi & Strauss sonatas (with Krystian Zimerman, a recording which earned her a Gramophone Award for Best Chamber Recording). Other recordings include Vivaldi's Four Seasons, which was selected as Gramophone's editorial choice, and the Brahms violin concerto with the Vienna Philharmonic under Simon Rattle.
In 1997, she celebrated the 30th anniversary of her international debut at Barbican Centre in London and in her hometown of Seoul, South Korea. In 2008, illness and injury caused her to temporarily halt her performing career Her next return to live performance was in London at the Royal Festival Hall in December 2014. However, her reaction to the audience coughing, including a persistent cough from a child in her line of vision and her subsequent speaking to the child's parents, caused widely reported controversy at this performance.
Chung has two sons, Frederick and Eugene, from her past marriage to the British businessman Geoffrey Leggett. Their 1984 marriage ended in divorce.

### Educator

In 2007, Chung joined Juilliard as a member of the faculty of the school's Music and Pre-College Divisions. She received the Kyung-Ahm Prize in 2005. In 2011, she received the Ho-Am Prize in the Arts division in recognition of her 40-year-long career as a violinist and educator.

## Discography
### Solo recordings

| Year of issue | Album details | Collaborating artists | Record label | First Issue |
| 1970 | Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto / Sibelius: Violin Concerto | London Symphony Orchestra (conducted by André Previn) | Decca | SXL 6493 |
| 1972 | Bruch: Violin Concerto / Scottish Fantasia | Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Rudolf Kempe) | Decca | SXL 6573 |
| 1973 | Walton: Violin Concerto / Stravinsky: Violin Concerto | London Symphony Orchestra (conducted by André Previn) | Decca | SXL 6601 |
| 1975 | Bach: Partita No. 2 in D minor; Sonata No. 3 in C Major | | Decca | SXL 6721 |
| 1976 | Saint-Saëns: Violin Concerto No. 3 / Vieuxtemps: Violin Concerto No. 5 | London Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Lawrence Foster) | Decca | SXL 6759 |
| 1977 | Prokofiev: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 | London Symphony Orchestra (conducted by André Previn) | Decca | SXL 6773 |
| 1977 | Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 2 | London Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Sir Georg Solti) | Decca | SXL 6802 |
| 1977 | Elgar: Violin Concerto | London Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Sir Georg Solti) | Decca | SXL 6842 |
| 1978 | Saint-Saëns: Havanaise; Introduction and Rondo / Chausson: Poeme / Ravel: Tzigane | London Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Charles Dutoit) | Decca | SXL 6851 |
| 1980 | Beethoven: Violin Concerto | Vienna Philharmonic (conducted by Kirill Kondrashin) | Decca | SXDL 7508 |
| 1980 | Franck: Violin Sonata / Debussy: Violin Sonata | Radu Lupu | Decca | SXL 6944 |
| 1980 | Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 1 / Schumann: Piano Trio No. 1 | André Previn (Piano) Paul Tortelier (Cello) | His Master's Voice | ASD 3894 |
| 1981 | Bach: Trio Sonatas BWV 1038, 1039 & 1079 | James Galway (Flute) Phillip Moll (Harpsichord) Moray Welsh (Cello) | RCA Red Seal |
| 1981 | Lalo: Symphonie Espagnole / Saint-Saëns: Violin Concerto No. 1 | Montreal Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Charles Dutoit) | Decca | SXDL 7527 |
| 1982 | Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto / Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto | Montreal Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Charles Dutoit) | Decca | SXDL 7558 |
| 1984 | Berg: Violin Concerto / Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 1 | Chicago Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Sir Georg Solti) | Decca | 411 804-1 |
| 1987 | Con Amore (Romantic violin works by Kreisler and other composers) | Phillip Moll (Piano) | Decca | 417 289-1 |
| 1988 | Franck: Violin Sonata / Debussy: Violin Sonata / | Phillip Moll (Piano) | Decca |
| 1989 | Dvořák: Violin Concerto Op. 53; Romance Op. 11 | Philadelphia Orchestra (conducted by Riccardo Muti) | EMI |
| 1989 | Strauss: Violin Sonata Op. 18 / Respighi: Violin Sonata | Krystian Zimerman (Piano) | Deutsche Grammophon |
| 1989 | Beethoven: Violin Concerto / Bruch: Violin Concerto | London Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Klaus Tennstedt) | EMI |
| 2001 | Vivaldi: Le Quattro Stagioni, The Four Seasons | St Luke's Chamber Ensemble (part of Orchestra of St. Luke's) | EMI Classics |
| 2016 | Bach Sonatas & Partitas | | Warner Classics | 0190295944162 |
| 2018 | Beau Soir – Fauré, Franck, Debussy – Works for Violin and Piano | Kevin Kenner (Piano) | Warner Classics | 0190295708085 |

### Chung trio recordings

| Year of issue | Album details | Collaborating artists | Record label |
| 1986 | Dvořák: Piano Trios Nos. 1 & 3 | Myung-wha Chung (Cello) Myung-whun Chung (Piano) | Decca |
| 1987 | Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 1 / Brahms: Piano Trio No. 1 | Myung-wha Chung (Cello) Myung-whun Chung (Piano) | Decca |
| 1988 | Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio in A Minor / Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 1 | Myung-wha Chung (Cello) Myung-whun Chung (Piano) | EMI |
| 1988 | Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Two Romances | Myung-wha Chung (Cello) Myung-whun Chung (Piano) Philharmonia Orchestra (conducted by Myung-whun Chung) | Deutsche Grammophon |
| 1992 | Beethoven: Piano Trio Nos. 4 & 7 "Archduke" | Myung-wha Chung (Cello) Myung-whun Chung (Piano) | EMI |
See Kyung-Wha Chung discography at discogs.com