Kunjing Dai

Kunjing Dai

Viola Coaching Faculty, Young Artists Orchestra, BUTI

Kunjing Dai is a multifaceted violist and teacher. As a devoted orchestra and chamber musician, Kunjing was a member of the Colorado Symphony and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Her chamber collaborations have involved the Ying Quartet, the Garth Newel Piano Quartet, and others. She has performed at venues such as Boettcher Concert Hall, Red Rocks, Orchestra Hall in Chicago, Lincoln Center, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Interested in contemporary music, she has worked and collaborated with many groups and artists, including conductor Jerry Hou’s Hear and Now contemporary ensemble in Houston, the Ying Quartet and Jennifer Higdon at the Bowdoin Festival, and the TMC Festival of Contemporary Music at Tanglewood. Her collaboration with composers also led to the American premiere of George Benjamin’s opera Lessons in Love and Violence, the premiere and CD publication of Theo Chandler’s Oboe Concerto, and a recording project with Shēng player Wu Wei.

A passionate teacher, Kunjing has taught viola lessons for non-majors and classes for the viola studio at Northwestern University since 2021. She has also been invited to teach non-major music theory and history for undergraduates at Northwestern University. Kunjing holds a Bachelor of Music in viola performance from the Juilliard School and a Master of Music from Rice University. She is continuing her doctoral studies at the Bienen School of Music under the Eckstein Scholarship. Her mentors include Misha Amory, Hsin-Yun Huang, James Dunham, and Helen Callus.