Violist James Kang is an inviting performer and artist-teacher, engaging with audiences across the U.S. and internationally. He is the founding violist of the Abeo Quartet which was formed at Juilliard in 2018 and has been featured at Alice Tully Hall, The Kennedy Center, and Norway’s Vertavo Festival. James is currently pursuing his DMA studies at Northwestern University as the Teaching Assistant of Prof. Helen Callus, and received his bachelor’s at the Juilliard School as a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship. 

As a soloist,  James won top prizes at the American Viola Society Solo Competition and the ASTA National Solo Competition, and recently was named a winner of the Chicago Federation of Musicians Scholarship and Evanston Music Club Scholarship. In the Spring of 2023, he performed Hindemith’s Der Schwanendreher Viola Concerto with the University of Delaware Symphony Orchestra. James also performs with orchestras including Chicago Philharmonic and Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, and has served as Principal Violist for the Juilliard and Symphony in C orchestras. He has attended summer programs such as Music@Menlo, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Perlman Music Program Chamber Workshop, Aspen Music Festival, Yellow Barn Young Artists Program, and NYO-USA. 

As an avid chamber musician, James has collaborated with musicians such as Itzhak Perlman, Joseph Kalichstein, and Donald Weilerstein. The Abeo Quartet was the first Graduate String Quartet Fellows at the University of Delaware under the tutelage of the Calidore String Quartet. Abeo’s recent accomplishments include Third Prize at the 2023 Bad Tölz International String Quartet Competition and being among ten quartets invited to participate in the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022. The quartet was also a First Prize and Audience Favorite Prize winner in the Yellow Springs Chamber Music Competition and the silver medal winner of the 2019 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Season highlights for Abeo include being featured at the Kennedy Center and being the Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at Caramoor which entails a yearlong residency that includes outreach to young listeners and others who are unable to attend live concerts. 

Dedicated to cultivating joy in his audiences, James is also active in community outreach and has participated in engagement concerts including Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Meet the Music!, “If Music Be the Food,” and United Nations Chamber Music Society. In 2019, he taught young violists in Brazil as a guest faculty artist in partnership with Guri Santa Marcelina.