Joann Whang, cellist

First and Audience Prize winner at the Amsterdam Cello Biennale Competition, Joann Whang has performed as a soloist with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, NJO New Music Ensemble, and the Dutch Youth String Orchestra, as well as performed in numerous festivals including Ravinia, Birdfoot, Delft, Domaine Forget, Giverny, Grachten, and Storioni. She has also been broadcasted in the Netherlands on Radio 4 and public television station VPRO's Vrije Geluiden.

Ms. Whang is the founding member of the Argus Quartet. They have held residencies at the Juilliard School, Yale School of Music, and Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, and are First Prize winners at the M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition and the Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition. Recent performances include appearances at Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and Zankel Hall, Roulette, the American Music Festival, University of Michigan, James Madison University’s Contemporary Music Festival, Princeton University, Rockport Music, and the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ. Recent commissions include new quartets by Donald Crockett, Eric Guinivan, Thomas Kotcheff, and Juri Seo.

Her affinity to contemporary music has led her to work closely with cellist Anssi Karttunen at the Acanthes Contemporary Music Festival in France and study works by composers-in-residence Tristan Murail and Beat Furrer. She performed music of young composers and collaborated with Magnus Lindberg at Creative Dialogue V. During three seasons at NJO Muziekzomer, she participated in performances of Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians, works by Kaija Saariaho, and Martijn Padding's cello concerto.

Joann began her studies with Orlando Cole and his longtime assistant Metta Watts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and with Nancy Green in Tucson, Arizona. After studying with Ronald Leonard at the Colburn Conservatory, Joann pursued graduate studies with Aldo Parisot at the Yale School of Music and with Michel Strauss and Jan-Ype Nota at the Royal Conservatorium of The Hague. She has participated in masterclasses of Jean-Guihen Queyras at the Concertgebouw, Richard Aaron and Desmond Hoebig at ENCORE School for Strings, Lynn Harrell and Alan Harris in Aspen, Jian Wang, Ralph Kirshbaum, and Mischa Maisky. In 2009, she was awarded a Fulbright Grant to study in France.

Joann’s interest and devotion to teaching has led her to The School for Strings where she completed her Suzuki Teacher Training (Books 1-8) with Pamela Devenport. She teaches at the Hudson River School of Music during the year and at Point CounterPoint during the summer, and maintains a private studio in teaching children and adults at all levels. She has taught chamber music at the Juilliard School and Yale University as well as cello and chamber music masterclasses and workshops at various institutions such as Princeton University, the Colburn School, University of Michigan, University of Illinois, University of Kansas, James Madison University, Cal State University Long Beach and Northridge, and Milken Community High School.