Sun-Young Shin

Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, B.M.

Northwestern University, M.M., and Performance Certificate

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, D.M.A. (Sole Recipient of the String Fellowship)

Dr. Sun-Young Gemma Shin is recognized for her “sensitive and sensible” artistry as both a baroque and modern violinist. She maintains an active international career as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral leader. Dr. Shin currently serves as Concertmaster of the Arete Orchestra of Saint Meinrad Archabbey and has held leadership positions with the Sarasota Opera, Chamber Orchestra of Sarasota, Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia da Camera, and the Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana (BACH). She previously served as Fellow and Concertmaster of the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra in Alabama.

A winner of numerous competitions, Dr. Shin is frequently engaged as a guest artist, masterclass clinician, and adjudicator. She has served on juries for the Blount-Slawson Young Artist Competition, Montgomery Symphony Fellowship Competition, and Paul Rolland Violin Competition. Her scholarly and performance interests encompass both historically informed performance practice and contemporary violin repertoire. Notably, she premiered Nice, 14 Juillet 2016 for solo violin by Dr. Sebastian Birch at the 2017 College Music Society National Conference, and her doctoral research, Solo Violin Works by Augusta Read Thomas, was showcased at the 2015 CMS Regional Conference in Lansing, Michigan.

In 2022, Dr. Shin co-founded DeSota Baroque, Florida’s premier professional period ensemble, dedicated to historically informed performance and community engagement. Her baroque mentors include Charlotte Mattax, Martha Stiehl, Elizabeth Blumenstock, Robert Mealy, Julie Andrijeski, and Nancy Wilson. She has collaborated with distinguished artists and ensembles, including Elizabeth Blumenstock, Charlotte Mattax, the American Bach Soloists, Illinois Bach Festival, Concerto Urbano, Marie Morgan Bach Festival, and Spire Chamber Ensemble.

Dr. Shin’s broader performance career spans collaborations with the Grammy Award–winning Pacifica Quartet, St. Petersburg Quartet, Martha Graham Dance Company, and composers John Corigliano and John Williams, as well as performances with the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Euro-Asian Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic, Sarasota Orchestra, Utah Festival Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. She has appeared in major venues including Carnegie Hall, Symphony Center Chicago, the Getty Center (Los Angeles), Seoul Arts Center, Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, and the Shanghai Oriental Art Center.

An accomplished pedagogue, Dr. Shin’s students have been admitted to leading institutions such as Northwestern University, DePaul University, Oberlin College, Peabody Institute, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of South Florida, the University of Central Florida, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Many of her former students now hold positions in professional orchestras across the United States. She has served on the faculties of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois State University, Illinois Wesleyan University, and the State College of Florida, Manatee–Sarasota, and has taught at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Illinois Summer Youth Music, and Illinois Chamber Music Symposium.

Dr. Shin’s principal teachers include Gregory Fulkerson, Roland and Almita Vamos, and Simin Ganatra of the Pacifica Quartet. Her Naxos recording of Czerny Piano Trios has been broadcast on the BBC and is available on major streaming platforms.