Violinist Yuri Namkung’s major solo guest appearances have included performances with the Zürich Tonhalle Orchestra in Switzerland at the invitation and direction of conductor David Zinman, Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Alice Tully Hall, the Seattle Symphony, and throughout Colombia and Brazil with the Filarmonica Joven de Colombia. She has performed with jazz pianist and UNESCO and UNICEF Artist for Peace Danilo Perez in Panama on several occasions at the Biodiversity Museum designed by Frank Gehry, the 2012 Presidential Awards Gala Ceremony in the National Theatre of Panama, and the Latin Presidential Ibero American Summit Conference in 2014.
An active chamber musician, she has performed in many of the country’s major halls and series such as Boston’s Jordan Hall, the Gardner Museum, the Kennedy Center, Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall’s Neighborhood Series, the New School’s Schneider Concert Series, MoMA, 92nd Street Y, Virginia Arts Festival, Music@Menlo, the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute, and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.
A founding member of the Moët Trio, Strad Magazine described them as “technically and interpretatively astounding.” A frequent guest teacher in Venezuela, Panama, and Colombia, she has been the Director of the Classical Music Program for the Panama Jazz Festival since 2009 and will become Artistic Director of the Festival for New Music in Panama beginning in September of 2015. From 2009 to 2010, she took a one-year appointment on faculty at the University of Alabama and at the Interlochen Arts Academy as Instructor of Violin from 2010 to 2013.
Yuri received her Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University and her Master of Music from the Juilliard School as a participant in the Columbia Juilliard Joint Program. She received a Graduate Diploma in Chamber Music as part of New England Conservatory’s Professional Piano Trio Program where she studied with Donald Weilerstein and Miriam Fried. Born in Seattle, Washington, Yuri Namkung began asking for violin lessons from her mother before the age of three. She made her first solo appearance at the age of nine with the Northwest Chamber Orchestra and shortly thereafter with the Seattle Symphony. At the age of twelve, Yuri began her studies with Dorothy DeLay at Juilliard Pre-College while performing widely across the United States as guest soloist and recitalist. The Greenville Times described her as “…This young artist from Seattle displayed solid technique, attractive tone, and obvious devotion to her art.” She is the 2001 Gold Prize winner of the Stulberg International Competition and has since performed in Asia, Europe, and Latin America.
Yuri plays on a 2002 violin made by Todd Goldenberg.