Taiwanese-American violist Jessica T. Chang is dedicated to sharing her love for music through expanding educational opportunities in the arts, and by presenting chamber music in accessible ways. As the founder and director of Chamber Music by the Bay (CMB), San Francisco's chamber music performance and education series, Ms. Chang brings chamber music concerts to public schools, libraries, and hospitals throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Her commitment to sharing chamber music extends to audiences of all ages across the United States, from reaching 800 youth and community members in the San Francisco Bay Area in CMB’s 2012 season, to serving as a teaching artist in educational residencies with Project 440 and the Savannah Music Festival in Savannah, Georgia; Opportunity Music Project in New York; and Music Beyond the Chamber throughout the United States. Since her debut at Carnegie Hall in 2008, Ms. Chang’s chamber music performances have been broadcast on American Public Media’s “Performance Today”, WAMC, WYNC, WHYY, and WQXR Public Radio. Recent highlights include a European concert tour with Curtis on Tour alongside Roberto Díaz, Pamela Frank, and members of the Berlin Philharmonic; and collaborations with Itzhak Perlman, Joseph Silverstein, Soovin Kim, Anthony McGill, Peter Wiley, Daniel Philips, and Toby Appel. Her festival appearances have included the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, MA; Verbier Festival in Switzerland; Music from Angel Fire in Angel Fire, NM; International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove in Cornwall, England; Perlman Chamber Music Workshop in Shelter Island, NY; Taos School of Music in Taos, NM; and the Aspen Music Festival in Aspen, CO.
Ms. Chang is an active orchestral musician, and has served as principal viola of the Juilliard Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, and the Yale Collegium Musicum. Other orchestral engagements have included the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland; the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, FL; the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and 20/21 ensemble; Symphony in C in Camden, NJ; and the Aspen Music Festival Orchestra in Aspen, CO. Aside from her musical endeavors, Ms. Chang has maintained commitments in Philadelphia toward improving youth access to quality arts education through the School District of Philadelphia’s ArtsRising initiative. Her passion for education has led to teaching engagements for afterschool and enrichment programs at K-8 public schools in New Haven, CT; Palo Alto, CA; San Jose, CA, and San Francisco. Also a writer and a visual artist, Ms. Chang has been published by art and literary magazines at the North Central Review, CRED Magazine, and by the American Literacy Council.
A native of Northern California, Ms. Chang began her studies on the viola at age thirteen. She is a graduate of Yale College, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree with honors and distinction, and was also the recipient of a Louis B. Sudler Fund Award and the Yale Friends of Music Chamber Music Award. She holds an Artist Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she studied with Roberto Díaz, Misha Amory, and Michael Tree as the recipient of the William A. Loeb Fellowship. Ms. Chang is currently pursuing graduate studies at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Heidi Castleman and Steven Tenenbom, with gracious support from the Satterthwaite Scholarship Fund and the Irene Diamond Graduate Fellowship.
Ms. Chang is an active orchestral musician, and has served as principal viola of the Juilliard Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, and the Yale Collegium Musicum. Other orchestral engagements have included the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland; the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, FL; the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and 20/21 ensemble; Symphony in C in Camden, NJ; and the Aspen Music Festival Orchestra in Aspen, CO. Aside from her musical endeavors, Ms. Chang has maintained commitments in Philadelphia toward improving youth access to quality arts education through the School District of Philadelphia’s ArtsRising initiative. Her passion for education has led to teaching engagements for afterschool and enrichment programs at K-8 public schools in New Haven, CT; Palo Alto, CA; San Jose, CA, and San Francisco. Also a writer and a visual artist, Ms. Chang has been published by art and literary magazines at the North Central Review, CRED Magazine, and by the American Literacy Council.
A native of Northern California, Ms. Chang began her studies on the viola at age thirteen. She is a graduate of Yale College, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree with honors and distinction, and was also the recipient of a Louis B. Sudler Fund Award and the Yale Friends of Music Chamber Music Award. She holds an Artist Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she studied with Roberto Díaz, Misha Amory, and Michael Tree as the recipient of the William A. Loeb Fellowship. Ms. Chang is currently pursuing graduate studies at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Heidi Castleman and Steven Tenenbom, with gracious support from the Satterthwaite Scholarship Fund and the Irene Diamond Graduate Fellowship.
