Born in Germany in a musical family, Clara-Jumi Kang started violin at the age of three and enrolled at Musikhochschule Mannheim the following year as the youngest student ever accepted to study there under Valery Gradov. A year later, she went on to study with Zakhar Bron at Musikhochschule Lübeck. She made her début with Hamburg Symphony at the age of five, and was featured on the cover and in a main article in Die Zeit when she was six.
Just turning seven, Kang got accepted at the Juilliard School with full scholarship to study under Dorothy Delay. At such young age, she had already performed with orchestras including Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, 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 programme for TELDEC.
Kang went on to study Bachelor’s and Master’s degree at age 16 with Nam-Yun Kim at the Korean National University of Arts. During that period, she won top prizes at major international competitions, including Third Prize at Tibor Varga Violin Competition in 2007, First Prize at Seoul Violin Competition in 2009, Second Prize at Hannover Violin Competition in 2009, First Prize at Sendai Violin Competition in 2010, and First Prize and five Special Prizes at the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis in 2010. Kang completed her last Studies at Munich Musikhochschule from 2011-2013 with Christoph Poppen.
Kang has established herself as a soloist, being 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 including Seoul Philharmonic, KBS Orchestra, Bucheon Philharmonic and Suwon Philharmonic. She also visits such festivals as Pyeongchang Music Festival, Marvão International Music Festival, and Ishikawa Music Festival almost annually.
Kang released her first solo album Modern Solo for DECCA in 2011, featuring violin solo sonatas by Ernst, Schubert and Ysaye.
In 2016/2017, she appeared with orchestras such as Mariinsky Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Moscow Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Belgique, Poznań Philharmonic, National Philharmonic of Russia, and China NCPA Orchestra. Some of the collaborating conductors included Andrey Boreyko, Valery Gergiev, Lü Jia, Gidon Kremer, Christoph Poppen and Vladimir Spivakov.
In 2012, Kang was selected one of the “100 Future’s most promising, influential people of Korea” by Korean newspaper DongA Times and received the 2012 Daewon Music Award for her outstanding concert achievements internationally. She was awarded “Kumho Musician of the Year” in 2014.
Kang resides in Munich and currently plays on Antonio Stradivarius ‘ex-Strauss’ 1708, generously on loan by Samsung Cultural Foundation Korea since 2015.
