Violist James Kang is a founding member of the Abeo Quartet which was formed at Juilliard in 2018, featured at Alice Tully Hall and The Kennedy Center, and received an Anderson Career Development Prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition. James is currently pursuing his DMA studies at Northwestern University as the Teaching Assistant to Prof. Helen Callus, and is a graduate of the Juilliard School as a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship.

As a soloist, James won the American Opera Society of Chicago Centennial Award ($15,000 prize), 2nd prize in the American Viola Society Solo Competition, and competed in the 2025 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition. In 2023, he performed Hindemith’s Der Schwanendreher Viola Concerto with the University of Delaware Symphony Orchestra. James performs with orchestras such as ProMusica Chamber Orchestra and Chicago Philharmonic, and has served as Principal Violist for the Juilliard and Symphony in C orchestras. As an avid chamber musician, James has collaborated with musicians such as Itzhak Perlman, Donald Weilerstein, KAIA String Quartet, and Dover Quartet. 

James is devoted to teaching and is currently on the Violin/Viola and Chamber Music Faculty of Music Institute of Chicago. He has also participated in engagement concerts with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Meet the Music!, “If Music Be the Food…,” and United Nations Chamber Music Society. His festival appearances include Music@Menlo, Perlman Music Program, Aspen Music Festival, NYO-USA, Yellow Barn YAP, and La Jolla SummerFest.