Violin Faculty, University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Liberal Arts

Chinese violinist Yue Sun has been hailed by Jiangnan City Daily for playing “fabulously and splendidly,” and by the Nanchang Daily for her ability to “fuse her passionate performance with unparalleled musical charm.” Modern Women in China called her “the most shining rising star.” Her DVD album “Passion” for 8 premiers of Chinese solo violin works was released and published by Shanghai Audio and Video Publishing House in 2017. Shortly after, the album was published by Shanghai Music House with the sheet music, and the CD version of the same album was distributed globally in the United States by Skillman Music in January 2018. With the album, she was interviewed by New York Lounge of SinoVision and was applauded for her “stringent artistic attitude and creative technical innovation.”

As a soloist, Ms. Sun has performed recitals throughout America, Europe, and Asia at prestigious venues such as Shanghai Concert Hall and the Sanders Theater at Harvard. She has also been invited to attend and perform as a part of numerous music festivals, including Hotchkiss Chamber Music Festival, Music Festival of Banff Centre, Schleswig Holstein Music Festival, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music, and others. As an active orchestral violinist, Ms. Sun was selected as the concertmaster and associate concertmaster for numerous orchestras such as the Latin GRAMMY® Award Orchestra of the Americas, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival Orchestra, and performed at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Konzerthaus Berlin, and National Grand Theater of China with renowned musicians such as Alan Gilbert, Christoph Eschenbach, David Geringas, Joshua Bell, James Gaffigan, Midori Goto, Ivan Fischer, Semyon Bychkov, and Valery Gergiev. Christoph Eschenbach praised her as “a rare talent of roaring flame and infectious passion.”

Ms. Sun earned her Master of Music in Violin Performance from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Ida Kavafian on full scholarship. Her Bachelor’s degrees in both psychology and violin performance are from Bard College with full scholarship. As an active chamber musician, Ms. Sun has invited to collaborate with Emerson String Quartet, Peter Willey, Steven Tenenbom, Paul Watkins, Jennifer Frautschi, Joan Tower, Steven Mackey, and other renowned musicians. Ms. Sun is a member of DEKA String Quartet. With the quartet, she has been closely mentored by the Emerson String Quartet and David Finckel for the past half decade. From 2019 to 2020, her quartet has served as Artists-in-Residence through the SUNY Rockefeller Institute of Government.

Ms. Sun graduated from Stony Brook University with a Doctorate of Music Arts. At Stony Brook, she studied with Hagai Shaham, Philip Setzer, Jennifer Frautschi, and Arnaud Sussmann. She has been playing with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra from 2019 to 2022, and immediately after, she has joined UAF College of Liberal Arts as Assistant Professor of Music-Upper Strings. She is also the concertmaster of Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra the artistic director of the Northern Lights String Orchestra and violinist of the Alaska Piano Trio. In her spare time, she likes to cook and make interesting bubble teas. For more information, please visit her website https://www.yuesunviolin.com