BIOGRAPHY

Korean-American violinist Dr. Brian Bak enjoys a career as a sought after performer and teacher. Dr. Bak received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees at The Juilliard School, where he was a recipient of the C.V. Starr scholarship, the Juilliard Merit Scholarship, and the Samsung scholarship. He received the prestigious Artist Diploma from Yale University, and his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from Stony Brook University. His principal mentors have included Hyo Kang, David Chan, and Philip Setzer.

Bak has been featured as a soloist with the Tampa Bay Symphony, the Central Florida Philharmonic, the Sewanee Festival Orchestra, the Florida Young Artists Orchestra, the Chicago Chamber Orchestra, and others. He was a winner of the 2016 Stony Brook University Concerto Competition and a featured soloist with the Stony Brook Symphony. A versatile instrumentalist, Bak is also an accomplished cellist, and has performed with the Florida Young Artists Orchestra and the Chicago Chamber Orchestra as a soloist on cello.

An avid chamber musician, Bak is a 2 time winner of the Ackerman Chamber Music Competition. He has collaborated with renowned performers and ensembles such as the Emerson String Quartet, flautist Carol Wincenc, harpist Nancy Allen, and several members of the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society. As a founding member of both the Deka String Quartet and Trio de Novo, he has held chamber music residencies at the Banff Centre, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, and the New Music for Strings Festival in Aarhus, Denmark. With the Deka Quartet, Bak served as an Artist-in-Residence through the Rockefeller Institute of Government, performing and teaching students from SUNY Schenectady and the Empire State Youth Orchestra. Trio de Novo has been praised as “a talented group who performed with detailed intensity… exceptional poise” (Sequenza 21). He has also often served as concertmaster of the New York Classical Players, leading performances and recordings, including for the album “Samuel Adler: Music for Chamber Orchestra” on Toccata Classics. Bak has also performed with the International Sejong Soloists, and the New Asia Chamber Music Society. He has been a featured guest artist for the Las Vegas Music and Wine Festival, and the Annapolis Chamber Music Festival.

Dr. Bak has held principal positions with the Juilliard Orchestra, the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra, the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra, and the Yale Philharmonia. He was a selected member of The Juilliard Orchestra's China Tour in 2008, and in 2011 he was appointed by the legendary conductor Lorin Maazel to be the principal violinist of the Castleton Festival Orchestra for a series of critically acclaimed performances.

Bak has been a part of numerous renowned summer music festivals, including the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, Schlern International Music Festival in Italy, Aspen Music Festival and School, the Kennedy Center Summer Music Institute, the Castleton Festival, Music Academy of the West, Great Mountains Music Festival and School, the Pacific Music Festival, the Atlantic Music Festival, and the Bowdoin International Music Festival. Dedicated to musical outreach, Bak was a member of Lincoln Center's Community Outreach Program and was a recipient of the Gluck Community Fellowship.

As an educator, Dr. Bak has been a faculty member at the New York Music School, Music & Art of Long Island, the St. Andrew’s Conservatory, and was a Teaching Artist at Yale University. Dr. Bak’s students have won top prizes at several competitions, including the International Grande Music Competition, the Rondo Young Artist Competition, the Prima Volta Music Competition, the Crescendo International Music Competition, the Florida Federation of Music Clubs, and the New York Young Virtuoso Competition, and have been accepted into elite pre-college programs, youth orchestras, NYO2, and All-State orchestras.

In addition to his musical achievements, Bak has faced profound personal challenges in dealing with a spinal cord injury. His journey through recovery has shaped his perspective on resilience, artistry, and the healing power of music. Dr. Bak often gives lectures on his experiences and how they have shaped his understanding of neuromuscular function as it relates to playing instruments.

Brian Bak performs on a 2015 Samuel Zygmuntowicz violin.