Internationally acclaimed solo artist and chamber musician, Dr. Sunmi Chang, could not be more confident her decision to join the School of Music and Dance (SOMD) was the right move. In September 2023, she began in her new role as assistant professor of violin and has cherished the experience so far. “I love it!” she exclaimed. “I really love it!”
From South Korea, Dr. Chang started to play violin at the age of seven, when her elementary school was recruiting students to fill in the orchestra. “My parents asked if I wanted to play an instrument and I said sure,” she recalled. “The teacher said, ‘Okay, you’re tiny, so here is the violin!’” she laughed.
Her parents saw she had talent, avoiding excessive squeaking, a hallmark of most novices. They hired a teacher and soon young Sunmi started winning national competitions. She took her playing to the next level when she left Korea at fourteen to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School in England. The small boarding school was her home for the next four years. “I had fun!” she remembered. “I couldn’t speak a word of English but until I learned the language, I was able to connect with my teachers and peers, in a way, through music.”
Following graduation, she continued her music studies in Germany. But it wasn’t until she landed at Yale University that it finally clicked – being a violinist was what she was meant to do as a career. She didn’t necessarily want to admit it because years of intense study had burned her out. She took a gap year, never picking up the instrument, and investigated other career paths, even taking the LSAT. “I totally failed!” she laughed. “I knew my brain wasn’t wired that way and I started missing playing the violin.”
The “aha” moment came when Sunmi’s Yale mentor, Peter Oundjain, encouraged her to enter the Yale School of Music concerto competition. She selected Bartok’s violin concerto because it’s gutsy, fiery, and resonated with her. After a month of intense practice, she learned the work, and won the competition. “That’s when I realized that I was meant to do this!” Sunmi said. “My passion and love for playing was renewed. I realized I actually do enjoy it, and I want this to be my career.”
After graduating with her Master of Music and Artist Diploma from Yale, she performed as a full-time tenured member of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra for six years. Busy as she was, she always found time to teach students in her private studio. “I really enjoy teaching because it gives you an objective perspective about performing,” she said. “You learn a lot about your own playing, even, while teaching somebody else. I also love helping students overcome a difficult passage; it’s like solving a puzzle. Sometimes it can be as easy as relaxing the wrist muscle, or it could be about releasing a mental block. I have always enjoyed that part of the process.”
Sunmi teaches students at a summer festival
That love for teaching led Sunmi to the Pacific Northwest where she accepted the assistant professor position at the SOMD. “I knew the role had so much potential, from the resources to the faculty I could collaborate with,” she said. “I also wanted to find a place where I could really grow the program and attract the best students in the area and in the country.” In addition to teaching at the SOMD, Chang is also the artistic director of the nonprofit, Summit Chamber Music Series. She founded the organization while teaching at West Virginia University, to bring joy and comfort to the community of West Virginia with world-class chamber music. “I really wanted to bring more high caliber chamber music to the community and make people fall in love with what I love,” she explained. “I really wanted to be part of that process.”
Sunmi presents a concert for Summit Chamber Music Series
Chang travels back and forth often to West Virginia to perform and lives full time in Eugene with her husband, Suhyun, who is an economist, teaching at Oregon State University, and their seven-year-old son, Nathan. They enjoy traveling and hiking as a family, enjoying all the natural beauty the state has to offer.
