Violinist Sarah Chang is recognized the world over as one of classical music’s most captivating and gifted performers. One of the most remarkable prodigies of any generation, she has matured into a young artist whose musical insight, technical virtuosity, and emotional range continue to astonish. Appearing in the music capitals of Asia, Europe and the Americas, she has collaborated with most major orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Boston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the principal London orchestras, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam.
Among the esteemed conductors with whom she has worked are Daniel Barenboim, Sir Colin Davis, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Bernard Haitink, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, André Previn, Sir Simon Rattle, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Leonard Slatkin, Michael Tilson-Thomas, and David Zinman. Notable recital engagements have included her Carnegie Hall debut and performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Orchestra Hall in Chicago, Symphony Hall in Boston, the Barbican Centre in London, the Philharmonie in Berlin, as well as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. She has reached an even wider audience through her many television appearances, concert broadcasts, and best-selling recordings for EMI Classics. The remarkable accomplishments of her career were recognized in 1999 when she received the Avery Fisher Prize, one of the most prestigious awards given to instrumentalists.
As a chamber musician, Ms. Chang has collaborated with such artists as Pinchas Zukerman, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yefim Bronfman, Martha Argerich, Leif Ove Andsnes, Stephen Kovacevich, Yo-Yo Ma, Lynn Harrell, Lars Vogt, and the late Isaac Stern.
This season, Sarah Chang returns to the orchestras of Gothenburg, Barcelona, Singapore, Helsinki, Hong Kong, New Jersey, Fort Worth and Calgary and will make her debut with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields at the Beijing Music Festival. She will give recitals in London, Zurich, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Korea, Vietnam and Macao, as well as a series of recitals in North America, as part of a worldwide recital tour.
Highlights of Ms. Chang’s 2008-09 season included a Far East tour with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Esa-Pekka Salonen, and appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic both at the Hollywood Bowl and Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Pittsburgh Symphony (where she presented the world premiere of Christopher Theofanidis’ concerto commissioned for her by the orchestra), the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, the Orquestra Sinfonica Estado de Sao Paulo, the London Philharmonia, and Japan’s NHK Symphony.
Recently, her calendar has included tours with the English Chamber Orchestra, Asia and US tours with Orpheus culminating in a performance at Carnegie Hall, the Pittsburgh Symphony in Europe and the US, North America with the London Philharmonic and Kurt Masur, the Bayerischer Rundfunk in Asia with Mariss Jansons, Orquesta Sinfonica Simon Bolivar with Gustavo Dudamel as well as appearances with the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Philadelphia, the National Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra.
Ms. Chang records exclusively for EMI Classics. Her latest release, Brahms and Bruch Violin concerti with the Dresdner Philharmonie Orchestra conducted by Kurt Masur has just been released to great critical acclaim.
Her widely lauded Vivaldi Four Seasons with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra went platinum in Korea, has reached the Billboard charts in the US and continues to top the best selling charts internationally. Other recordings include Prokofiev Violin Concerto No.1 and Shostakovich Violin Concerto No.1 live with the Berlin Philharmonic under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle, Fire and Ice, an album of popular shorter works for violin and orchestra with Placido Domingo conducting the Berlin Philharmonic, the Dvorak concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Colin Davis, as well as several chamber music and sonata discs with artists such as Leif Ove Andsnes, Lars Vogt, and members of the Berlin Philharmonic.
Born in Philadelphia to Korean parents, Sarah Chang began her violin studies at age 4 and promptly enrolled in the Juilliard School of Music, where she studied with the late Dorothy DeLay. Within a year she had already performed with several orchestras in the Philadelphia area. Her early auditions, at age 8, for Zubin Mehta and Riccardo Muti led to immediate engagements with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Ms. Chang has appeared on numerous television and radio programs throughout Europe, the Americas, and the Far East. Along with Pete Sampras, Wynton Marsalis, and Tom Brady, she has been a featured artist in Movado’s global advertising campaign “The Art of Time.” In March 2008, Ms. Chang was honored as a Young Global Leader for 2008 by the World Economic Forum (WEF) for her professional achievements, commitment to society and potential in shaping the future of the world.
In 2005, Yale University dedicated a chair in Sprague Hall in Ms. Chang’s name. For the June 2004 Olympic games, she was given the honor of running with the Olympic Torch in New York, and that same month, became the youngest person ever to receive the Hollywood Bowl's Hall of Fame award. Also in 2004, Ms. Chang was awarded the Internazionale Accademia Musicale Chigiana Prize in Sienna, Italy. She is a past recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Gramophone’s “Young Artist of the Year” award, Germany’s “Echo” Schallplattenpreis, “Newcomer of the Year” honors at the International Classical Music Awards in London, and Korea’s “Nan Pa” award. In 2006, she was named by Newsweek as one of the Twenty Top Women on Leadership.
Audio clips:
Concerto 2 In G Minor Op 8.2 L'Estate - Summer: III Presto and Concerto 4 In F Minor Op 8.4 L'Inverno - Winter: II Largo from the album The Four Seasons performed by Sarah Chang and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra courtesy of EMI Classics.
Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 99: V. Burlesque from the album Shostakovich and Prokofiev: Violin Concertos No. 1 performed by Berliner Philharmoniker, Sarah Chang & Sir Simon Rattle courtesy of EMI Classics.
