Janet Lyu is a freelancing violinist with extensive experience in orchestral performance, contemporary chamber music, and teaching in various settings. At the moment, she is based in Seoul. 

She is a tenured member of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra and the Flint Symphony Orchestra. Previously, she was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and a long-time substitute for the New World Symphony in Miami. She has performed under the baton of conductors such as Jaap van Zweden, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Riccardo Muti and enjoyed participating in several community engagement workshops with Yo Yo Ma, Chicago Symphony’s former Creative Consultant. In addition, she was briefly a substitute first violin for the St Louis Symphony Orchestra and Opera Theater of St Louis’s productions of Marc Blitzstein’s Regina and Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice.

In previous summers, she was a fellow at the National Repertory Orchestra and Pacific Music Festival, and she was a student at the Aspen Music Festival and School. During her second summer at the NRO, she was selected to perform “Winter” from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and also served as a principal player during her third summer at PMF.

As a masters student, she was exposed to great contemporary pieces written by the likes of Frederic Rzewski, Steve Reich, Luciano Berio, and John Luther Adams. This propelled her to seek out other opportunities in the contemporary music scene. For several years, she was a core violinist of AEPEX Contemporary Performance, a chamber group dedicated to performing contemporary chamber music in community venues in the Southeast Michigan area. 

In addition to her experience as a performer, she has been an educator in various capacities. She was a violin instructor at The People’s Music School, an after-school program providing students with free orchestral and instrumental instruction at various Chicago Public School locations. She was also an instructor at the University of Michigan String Preparatory Program for advanced high school students preparing for college auditions. 

Janet holds three degrees in violin performance, all from the University of Michigan, and she has studied with Stephen Shipps and David Halen.