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In 1962, when Myung-Whun was nine, the family assembled in Seattle for the World's Fair. "For the next five years I went to school, played a lot of sports and got into a normal sort of life," he says. He did not decide to become a professional musician until he was 14 —when he asked his parents' permission to go to New York. There ahead of him were two of his older sisters: Kyung-Wha had studied at Juilliard and was a pupil of Ivan Galamian, and Myung-Wha was a pupil of first Leonard Rose and then Gregor Piatigorsky. Myung-Whun was attracted by the more personal, less competitive atmosphere of the smaller Marines College of Music and apprenticed himself to Pianist Nadia Reisenberg and recently also to Conductor Carl Bamberger.
No Rivalry. For the next several years, the three Chungs played together in recital and separately. With the pianist-brother's recent success, however, the consanguineous harmonies of the trio will no longer be heard. In the future, each member will concentrate on independent solo careers.
Up to now, almost miraculously it would appear, there has been no evidence of sibling rivalry. Onstage, the Chungs resemble one another in their cool professionalism and a musical intelligence and maturity far beyond their years. They lead the circumscribed life of performing artists. "Whenever I get on a plane, I always hope it will be to explore a new city," says Kyung-Wha. "Instead, I must be content to explore a new audience." Their personalities are similar only in a courteous sense of selfimportance. Myung-Whun is intense, Kyung-Wha fiery, and Myung-Wha pacific. When family frictions do arise, the Chungs may find their strongest bond in their individual ability to make shafts of sound seem more vivid than anything else in life.
* Myung-So, flute; Myung-Keun, violin; Myung-Chul, clarinet; Myung-Kyu, guitar.