Benjamin Sung, Violinist

Visiting Assistant Professor of Violin at Florida State University, violinist Benjamin Sung is also concertmaster of the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra. Recent concert highlights include the Cuban premiere of the Schnittke Concerto Grosso No. 1 and the Piazzolla Estaciones Portenas, solo performances at the Brandeis Electro-Acoustic Music Series, and a series of concerts with pianist Jihye Chang commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of composer Franz Liszt, featuring a joint program of the Grande etudes de Paganini by Liszt and the corresponding Caprices by Niccolo Paganini. Upcoming engagements include a residency at the Federal University of the Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil)'s Samana da Music, performances with the James Sewell Ballet in St. Paul and Moorhead, solo and chamber performances at the Virtuosi Recife, Braizil, and solo appearance with the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony (Mendelssoh Concerto).

Sung has performed as soloist with the National Repertory Orchestra, Texas Music Festival Orchestra, Virtuosi: Festival Internacionale de Musica in Recife, Brazil, Camerata Romeu in Havana, Cuba, Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra, and the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra. He is a past winner of the Starling Award competition of the Eastman School of Music and the Violin Fellowship competition of the Montgomery Symphony, and received the Gladys Gingold Scholarship at Indiana University. An enthusiastic advocate of contemporary music, Sung has appeared in recital for Studio 2021 at Seoul National University, has recorded the music of composers Steve Rouse and Marc Satterwhite for Centaur Records, sat on the jury for the 2011 Martirano Award of the University of Illinois, and will soon release an album of new American music for violin and piano, supported by a Recording Grant from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music.

Sung holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Oleh Krysa, and Master’s and Doctorate degrees from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, from the studio of Nelli Shkolnikova. Sung has participated in the Professional Training Program at Carnegie Hall, the Lucerne Festival Academy, the New York String Seminar, and the Chamber Music Residency at The Banff Centre. He also studied with Fredell Lack, Sonya Monosoff, Yair Kless, and the late Mitchell Stern. Benjamin lives with his wife Jihye in Tallahassee, where he enjoys running, playing pool and snooker, and everything that comes out of Jihye’s kitchen.