MoVE
Driven to expand violin ensemble models through new repertoire, collaborations, and formats, the four internationally acclaimed violinists of MoVE: Lina Bahn, Livia Sohn, Carolyn Stuart, and Janet Sung, united to create a fresh and unexpectedly diverse sound world. Through commissions with renowned and emerging composers, MoVE’s emphasis on freedom of expression has inspired works of cultural influence, social equality, political justice, environmental awareness, personal stories, sound explorations, and multi-media experiences.
MoVE has premiered works at Brooklyn’s Areté Venue and Gallery, the American University Museum Katzen Arts Center in D.C., Stanford Live: Daniel Pearl World Music Days Concert, Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, and various universities and conservatories nationwide.
MoVE is thrilled to release their debut album, MoVE Premieres, with Phenotypic Records in 2026. This double CD features twelve world-premiere commissions recorded at Schumann Music Studio in San Francisco, Zinober Concert Hall at University of South Florida, Stanford University CCRMA (Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics), and the legendary Skywalker Sound in the Bay Area.
The members of MoVE are celebrated soloists, chamber musicians, and pedagogues. They are each deeply devoted to the next generation of performers and teachers, dedicated to passing along their rich experiences and expanding opportunities for artists, while strengthening connection and advancing inclusivity in the field and beyond.
Members
Lina Bahn
Lina Bahn has been called “brilliant” and “lyrical” by the Washington Post. Her albums, Axolotl and Mean Fiddle Summer were hailed for “ technical brilliance (and) flair for innovative musical narratives”, and for “adroit technical facility, kaleidoscope of colors, and consummate musical taste.” A long committed performer to new works, she has commissioned and performed hundreds of new pieces, and was the violinist/Executive Director for 14 years of the Contemporary Music Forum, resident ensemble at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. She was a member of the award-winning Corigliano Quartet, whose Naxos recording received the New Yorker's Top Ten Recordings of the Year award. Previously on the faculty at the University of Colorado-Boulder, she currently teaches and is Chair of the Department at the Thornton School/USC, where she was twice awarded the Thornton Teaching Award, along with the Dean’s Teaching Award.
Photo Credit: Isabella LaRocca
Livia Sohn
Hailed by Opus Magazine as “a stunning musician”, Livia Sohn has performed widely on the international stage as concerto soloist, recitalist, and festival guest artist in North America, Europe, and Asia. Livia started playing violin at age five, and gave her first public performance at age eight. At the age of 13, she won First Prize in the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition. She attended the Juilliard Pre-College Division from the age of seven, at which time she began her studies with Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang. She continued under their tutelage at the Juilliard School, where she also studied chamber music with the legendary Felix Galamir. Livia makes her home in the Bay Area, with sons Jack and Ellis.
Carolyn Stuart
Violin playing described as “tonally resplendent and affectingly assured both stylistically and technically” (Fanfare Magazine) and a performer of "astonishing effectiveness, radiant inspiration, deep sensitivity, and colossal temperament" (Musical Horizons - Sofia), violinist Carolyn Stuart is heard regularly as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician in prominent North American and European centers. Such recent performances were held at Carnegie, Merkin, and Steinway Halls in NYC, Salle Gaveau in Paris, the National Palace of Culture in Sofia, The Bethaniënklooster in Amsterdam, Mansfield 22 in London, American University in Athens, Royal Academy of Music in Denmark, Royal Irish Academy of Music, Teatro del Sale in Florence, Incontro sulla Tastiera in Vicenza, Universities of Toronto in Canada, and the Zurich Conservatory. Festival appearances have included Green Mountain, Chautauqua, Interlochen, Garth Newel, Hot Springs, Pine Mountain, Killington, Fox River, and in the Netherlands (Peter de Gröte), Bulgaria (Salon des Arts and Sofia Music Weeks), and France (Association Philomuses, Paris).
Janet Sung
Violinist JANET SUNG enjoys an acclaimed international career as a virtuoso soloist, praised for her exquisite tone and impassioned, bravura performances. Since her orchestral debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony at age 9, she has performed with leading orchestras and in recitals worldwide. Her solo performances range from Korngold’s Violin Concerto, of which there were multiple broadcasts on NPR’s “Performance Today,” to the world premieres of Kenneth Fuchs’ American Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra and Augusta Read Thomas’Double Helix. Personally selected by Leonard Slatkin as the recipient of the Passamaneck Award, she has also toured regularly across the U.S. with fiddler Mark O’Connor’s American String Celebration. Currently Associate Professor of Violin and String Department Chair at the DePaul University School of Music in Chicago, Ms. Sung is also assistant faculty at The Juilliard School. Highly sought after as artist-teacher, Ms. Sung regularly conducts master classes at major conservatories and was the Clifton Visiting Artist at Harvard University.