Joan Kwuon

At six, in Los Angeles, Joan Kwuon began the violin; she went on to study with Miriam Fried at Indiana University, with Joel Smirnoff and Robert Mann at the Juilliard School, and with Donald Weilerstein at the Cleveland Institute of Music. André Previn invited her to make her concerto debut at Tanglewood in 2000, and a Lincoln Center appearance followed the next season; she has since played with orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic, the London Symphony and the NHK Symphony in Tokyo, and records for Azica. She headed the violin department at the Cleveland Institute, has taught at Juilliard, and teaches violin and chamber music at the Colburn School. On the Burgas Philharmonic's American tour of 2007 she was soloist three times — Beethoven's concerto in Philadelphia, a Vivaldi programme with The Four Seasons in Wilmington, and a concert in Fort Myers. She joined the faculty of the Cleveland Institute in 2009. The concertos she has played with the Royal Philharmonic and the London Symphony include Mozart and the Sibelius, and in chamber music she has partnered Previn, Sergei Babayan and members of the Juilliard String Quartet, with work alongside Tony Bennett besides.