Described as “one of the most gifted musicians of her generation” by The Times, Korean flautist, Unji Chung, was born into a musical family. She started to give her first public concert aged 5 years as a pianist, since then, she has won many music competitions, both as a flautist and pianist. Her busy concert schedule has taken her to places such as England, France, Finland, Sweden, Italy, Greece, Romania, U.S.A, China, Japan and Korea.
Unji did her Bachelor's degree of Music at the College of Music, Seoul National University then came to London for further study with William Bennett, OBE. She completed her Postgraduate Degree at the Royal Academy of Music with him, having received the “Harold Wrigley Alcock Award”, “Mortimer Development Awards” and “David Taylor Trust Fund Award” from the Academy. She was nominated for the RAM Club Prize as the only woodwind player and also got 1st Prize from the All Flutes Plus competition.
Since arriving in London, she has given many concerts as both recitalist and orchestral player at venues such as the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Royal Festival Hall, St. Martin in the Fields, having worked with numerous leading musicians, including maestro Sir Colin Davis. She was also Principal Flute in the RAM-London Symphony Orchestra training scheme in 2007.
After winning the Audi-Mozart International Woodwinds Competition in Italy, Timisoara International Flute Competition in Romania, Mediterranean International Flute Competition in Greece and Domenico Cimarosa International Flute Competition in Italy, Unji has appeared as soloist with several orchestras in many countries, often being broadcasted on television and radio. She had her first concert tour in US, covering cities such as Washington DC, New York, Philadelphia, Dallas TX and Los Angeles in 2002. In 2009, she was invited by the National Flute Association to give a recital at their convention in New York and also gave a recital at the 2010 British Flute Society’s convention in Manchester and the 2011 Japanese Flute Festival in Matsue.
She enjoys working as guest principal flute with orchestras such as the London Octave, Orquestra du Norte, Pusan Philharmonic, Prime Philharmonic, Euro-Asian Philharmonic, Korean Symphonic, Bucheon Philharmonic and Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra along with her soloist career.
The recording 'Sentiment & Passion' was released for the BEEP label in 2008, featuring works for two flutes by Telemann and C.P.E. Bach with William Bennett and the principal members of the English Chamber Orchestra.
She got the co-solo flute position in Hyogo PAC(theatre) Orchestra in 2011 whilst she was furthering her studies with Andrea Lieberknecht in the Solistenklass (KonzertExamen) at Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover.
in Korean
