Chinese name: 黃俊文
Born: 1990
Birthplace: Tainan (Southern Taiwan)
Official Website: https://www.paulhuangviolin.com/
Did You Know That…?
In 2021, Paul Huang became the first classical violinist in American history to play the national anthem at a National Football League (NFL) game.
Paul Huang was born in Tainan in 1990. His parents were pharmacists by trade but showed a deep interest in art and music, often taking him and his brother to performances and concerts. Huang had percussion and piano lessons before ultimately discovering his passion for the violin after attending a violin concert.
Tutored by violist Wang Li-wen (王麗雯), Huang began learning the violin when he was 7, and received his first honor at the age of 12 after winning first place in a national violin competition. In the summer of 2003, Huang moved with his mother to New York to enroll in the pre-college program at the renowned Juilliard School, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees under master violinists Hyo Kang and I-Hao Lee.
To this day, Huang has received numerous prestigious awards, including the first prize at the 2009 Tibor Varga International Violin Competition Sion-Valais in Switzerland, the 2011 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and the Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2015. Notably, in 2017, Huang was honored with the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, which is one of the highest honors for young artists in the United States.
Throughout his life, Huang has been supported by many individuals, such as Shi Wen-long (許文龍), founder of Chi Mei Corporation and a violin collector, who lent Huang his exquisite violins to use in competitions. His mentor, esteemed South Korean violinist Kyung Wha Chung, recognized the talent in Huang and has maintained a relationship with him that was part mentorship and part friendship, even once recommending him to play at a fundraising concert held by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 2011, Huang has been featured as a guest artist at the Music in PyeongChang, one of South Korea’s largest classical music festival, of which Chung and her brother were the artistic directors until 2017.
In 2014, Huang stepped in for violinist Midori to perform with Leonard Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, where his performance received critical acclaim, marking the beginning of a new chapter in his career. A member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Huang has collaborated with several international orchestras, including the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. Huang also often participates in various global music festivals as a featured artist.
In 2021, at the invitation of Su Shien-ta (蘇顯達), dean of the College of Music at Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA), Huang started working as an assistant professor of violin at TNUA. Huang believes that classical music is not something meant for only the elites, but rather a form of art that’ll evoke profound emotions in every listener.
