© Lenny Gonzalez

Born in South Korea, Sunny Yang grew up in a family of passionate amateur musicians with a vast range of musical tastes and an ever-growing collection of LPs and instruments. She later immigrated to South Africa, where she fell in love with playing the cello, the sounds of Africa, and the earth-shattering summer thunderstorms. As she continued her musical studies in the United States and Europe, her interest in exploring our understanding of the world through music and collaboration deepened.

Described as “coolly unflappable and supremely competent”, with “an exquisite cello solo”, and selected as one of the Faces to Watch in 2014 by The Los Angeles Times, Sunny has sustained a versatile international career as a cellist and educator. As the cellist of the Kronos Quartet for ten years, she continually reimagined the concert experience as a living art form that responds to the people and issues of our time. Touring five months a year, she performed extensively at the world’s most celebrated venues and festivals, commissioned over 500 new works, and released more than 20 critically acclaimed albums, including Landfall, the Grammy Award-winning collaboration with Laurie Anderson; Sun Rings, a Grammy-winning recording of Terry Riley’s monumental NASA-commissioned work; and The Music of Moondog, which recently received the German Critics’ Award.

Sunny has led workshops and masterclasses at major institutions worldwide, including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, Stanford University, Holland Festival, and the Royal College of Music (Stockholm). She was instrumental in developing and launching Fifty for the Future, a project that presents fifty new works made freely available to the public. The published scores and parts, recordings, and pedagogical materials are designed for players of all levels and ages, providing invaluable resources for the next generation of musicians.

Sunny attended the Eastman School of Music (BM), Royal Northern College of Music (Postgraduate Diploma), and the University of Southern California (MM). She is grateful to have had many wonderful mentors and colleagues who continue to teach and inspire her. Her principal cello teachers include Ralph Kirshbaum, Steven Doane, Crispin Campbell, and Gerard van de Geest.