Described as "a consummate artist," Taiwanese violinist Jean Chu Chung Huang’s active performing career has brought her to concert halls internationally and throughout the United States. Dr. Huang holds Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral of Musical Arts degrees (BM '12, MM '14, DMA '19) in Violin Performance with honors from the New England Conservatory. Jean started violin at the age of five and came to the United States when she was fifteen. She graduated with honors from Walnut Hill High School of the Arts, while also studying at the NEC Preparatory School from 2005 to 2008, where she worked with the late Marylou Speaker Churchill. In 2014, Huang enrolled in the Doctor of Musical Arts program at NEC with a merit scholarship, studying with James Buswell, Jennifer Frautschi, and Peter Zazofsky. In 2016, she excelled and passed all her doctoral qualifying exams to become the youngest doctoral candidate in her class and completed her Doctoral studies with the thesis topic "Performative Analysis and the Critical Edition of Francis Poulenc's violin sonata" in 2019, under the guidance of Sean Gallagher and Pascal Rogé.
Passionate for teaching, Dr. Huang has served as a teaching assistant at the Walnut Hill Summer Music Festival held by the Chinese Performing Arts Foundation since 2006. She has also had the privilege to work as James Buswell's teaching assistant at NEC, where she worked with undergraduate violinists. Wishing to share her immense depth of scholarly knowledge, she also worked as a teaching assistant in the music history and music theory departments at NEC. Dr. Huang currently maintains a private studio in Boston, with students ranging from six years old to adults. She also serves as the violin faculty at the New England Conservatory School of Continuing Education and preparatory school.
“Superior leading.” –The Boston Musical Intelligencer (2019).
Maintaining an active professional career, Dr. Huang currently serves as newly appointed concertmaster of the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra, a member of the Phoenix Orchestra (Boston), and the newest first violinist of CØDA ensemble. Praised for her poised and expressive playing, Jean enjoys playing both standard repertoire and new music. Believing music can provoke the wildest imagination, she often looks for a connection between the composer, the performer, and the audience: Dr. Huang is recognized for her performances in which she combines virtuosic violin playing and commentary that audience members of all experience levels can understand. By offering informative discussion in simpler terms, Jean has been able to reach a wider array of concertgoers.
Photo by Mia Andreoli.