Vivi Kung is a Taiwanese American tuba player, music educator, and aspiring crazy cat lady. Currently, she is acting principal tuba with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra for fall/winter 2024. Prior to this, she was principal tuba of Symphony in C. Vivian is an active freelancer in the New England area, and can be seen regularly performing with The Orchestra Now (TON), Syracuse Orchestra, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Cape Symphony, Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Norwalk Symphony, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Symphony in C, and more.
Vivian has been a prize winner in various solo competitions including the Susan Slaughter tuba competition at the International Women's Brass Conference and the 37th Pasadena Showcase House Instrumental Competition. She received first place in the Music Teacher's National Association brass division, and in the Northwestern Tuba and Euphonium conference Young Artist solo competition. She has also performed with the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps, where she secured a contract at the age of 17 and won a world championship at 19.
As a chamber musician, Vivi has performed with Seraph Brass, the Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass, and is a founding member of Fischoff award-winning quintet Amo Brass.
Vivi is an avid lover of nature, and has had the great fortune to spend summers outdoors at the Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Festival Quintet Seminar, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Brevard Low Brass Seminar, and Avaloch Farms Music Institute.
Vivian received degrees from UCLA and Yale University. Currently, she is a student at New England Conservatory. Her teachers are Aubrey Foard, Carol Jantsch, and Mike Roylance.
In addition to her musical pursuits, Vivi is a proponent of racial/gender equity in classical music. She previously served as a representative on the Yale Graduate and Professional Student Senate and serves on the Diversity and Inclusion board, where she worked to implement more equitable measures and actions for student life at Yale University. Beginning in 2024, she has joined the Yale Alumni Association as one of three representatives for the School of Music. Vivian is an active member of the Chromatic Brass Collective, an organization that celebrates, performs, mentors, and educates to increase visibility for racially/ethnically underrepresented women & gender non conforming people in music. She was also the inaugural Yaffe post-graduate fellow at the Yale Music in Schools Initiative, a partnership between YSM and the New Haven Public Schools which works to deliver quality music education to K-12 public school students.
In her free time, you can find Vivi petting her cats, reading a book with unnatural speed, and watching cooking shows on Netflix.
Vivian has been a prize winner in various solo competitions including the Susan Slaughter tuba competition at the International Women's Brass Conference and the 37th Pasadena Showcase House Instrumental Competition. She received first place in the Music Teacher's National Association brass division, and in the Northwestern Tuba and Euphonium conference Young Artist solo competition. She has also performed with the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps, where she secured a contract at the age of 17 and won a world championship at 19.
As a chamber musician, Vivi has performed with Seraph Brass, the Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass, and is a founding member of Fischoff award-winning quintet Amo Brass.
Vivi is an avid lover of nature, and has had the great fortune to spend summers outdoors at the Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Festival Quintet Seminar, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Brevard Low Brass Seminar, and Avaloch Farms Music Institute.
Vivian received degrees from UCLA and Yale University. Currently, she is a student at New England Conservatory. Her teachers are Aubrey Foard, Carol Jantsch, and Mike Roylance.
In addition to her musical pursuits, Vivi is a proponent of racial/gender equity in classical music. She previously served as a representative on the Yale Graduate and Professional Student Senate and serves on the Diversity and Inclusion board, where she worked to implement more equitable measures and actions for student life at Yale University. Beginning in 2024, she has joined the Yale Alumni Association as one of three representatives for the School of Music. Vivian is an active member of the Chromatic Brass Collective, an organization that celebrates, performs, mentors, and educates to increase visibility for racially/ethnically underrepresented women & gender non conforming people in music. She was also the inaugural Yaffe post-graduate fellow at the Yale Music in Schools Initiative, a partnership between YSM and the New Haven Public Schools which works to deliver quality music education to K-12 public school students.
In her free time, you can find Vivi petting her cats, reading a book with unnatural speed, and watching cooking shows on Netflix.