Jennifer Kang is a violist and writer from Mountain View, California. She currently studies in the Pre-College Division of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she is a two-time merit scholarship recipient.

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Jennifer Kang’s honors include being named a 2026 YoungArts Winner, a semifinalist in the Johansen International Competition, and a quarterfinalist in the Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition in the United Kingdom. She has also received First Prize in the National Federation of Music Clubs’ Wendell Irish Viola Award; First Prize in the Junior Solo Division of the American Viola Society Competition; and First Prize, Best Bach Performance, and Best New Piece at the Northern California Viola Society’s Young Violist Competition.

 

Jennifer made her Carnegie Hall debut at age nine at Weill Recital Hall as a first-place winner of the US International Music Competition. She was invited to perform as an Outstanding Young Artist in the Young Artist Performance Series and will present a full-length solo recital in Hilton Head, South Carolina, on January 10, 2027. 

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Jennifer’s musical development has been shaped by a range of intensive summer programs, including three summers at the Perlman Music Program (2024–26); Morningside Music Bridge (2023), which she attended on full scholarship; Music@Menlo (2022); and the Heifetz Program for the Exceptionally Gifted. An avid chamber musician, she has been a member of Young Chamber Musicians since 2022, where she is a merit scholarship recipient.

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Beyond performance, Jennifer is committed to using music and community service to create meaningful connections with others. She has served as a Regional Director of the Back to BACH Project since 2024 and as its Director of Global Operations since 2026, leading and rebuilding the organization’s Santa Clara County chapter while supporting its broader international mission. She also served as Vice President of Nahnoom in 2025 and President in 2026, helping lead the student-run nonprofit’s benefit concerts and fundraising efforts. Nahnoom has raised more than $56,500 for charitable causes and received the American Red Cross Good Neighbor Award in 2026. Jennifer also founded Harmony for Mind, an initiative that brings live music to care facilities, and teaches young violists as a private tutor through the Do Re Mi Community Music Program.

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Jennifer is equally drawn to storytelling through the written word. Her fiction and nonfiction works have received two Gold Keys, a Silver Key, and three Honorable Mentions from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, with recognized work spanning science fiction, memoir, and short fiction. Additionally, she has received First Prize at the Geek Partnership Society’s short story contest and was accepted to the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio in 2024. Her journalism has appeared in Mountain View High School’s SLAM Magazine and The Oracle, the school newspaper, including a front-page article; the news program also received an Honorable Mention at the Journalism Education Association’s National Student Media Contest.

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ADDITIONAL INTERESTS
– Stanford Neuroscience Journal Club — selected participant
– UMass Amherst Winter Research Camp, “Understanding   

   and Designing Research in Cognitive Neuroscience” with
   Dr. Youngbin Kwak — drafted an independent research proposal

– Le Grand Concours National French Contest, Bronze Medal (2024&2025)
– Taekwondo — First Dan black belt holder

– AP Scholar with Distinction (2026)
– Languages: English (native), Korean (fluent), French (intermediate)