Yoonshin Song
violin
Acclaimed as “a wonderfully talented violinist … whose sound and technique go well beyond her years,” Yoonshin Song was born in South Korea, where she began her musical studies at age 5. Making her solo debut with the Seoul Philharmonic at age 11, she has since built a successful performing career internationally.
Yoonshin was appointed as Concertmaster of the Houston Symphony in August 2019. Prior to that, she held the same position with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for seven seasons. Yoonshin has also served as guest concertmaster of the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Iván Fischer.
Beyond her first-chair duties, Yoonshin has performed as a soloist with many orchestras around the world, including the Houston Symphony, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Utah Symphony, the New Mexico Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, the Paul Constantinescu Philharmonic Orchestra, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and the KBS Philharmonic Orchestra, among many others. The highlights of her 2020/2021 season as a soloist included concertos with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, and the New Mexico Philharmonic Orchestra.
She has also participated as a soloist and chamber musician in numerous leading music festivals, including the Marlboro, Deer Valley, Great Lakes, and Aspen Music Festivals in the United States; the Miyazaki Chamber Music Festival in Japan; and the Verbier, Lucerne, and Bayreuth Festivals in Europe.
Yoonshin has earned many prestigious prizes throughout her career, including top-prize awards in the Lipizer International Violin Competition in Italy; the Lipiński and Wieniawski International Violin Competition in Poland; the Henry Marteau International Violin Competition in Germany; and first prize at the Stradivarius International Competition in the United States. She studied under the tutelage of Donald Weilerstein at the New England Conservatory and continued her studies with Robert Mann and Glenn Dicterow at the Manhattan School of Music.
