Lyris Hung

Lyris began her violin studies at the age of 3 in the exotic wilds of Fairfield County, Connecticut. At 11, she was accepted into the prestigious Juilliard Pre-College Division and at 17, she started a double-degree program between the Juilliard School and Columbia University where she earned a B.A. in Anthropology and Music from Columbia and an M.M. in Violin Performance from Juilliard.

At college, Lyris was active in contemporary music performance, playing regularly with the New Juilliard Ensemble and at the Museum of Modern Arts Summergarden concerts. She worked as Musical Director of many musical productions at Columbia, where she also studied composition and electronic music. At Juilliard during that time, she performed with a number of stellar conductors such as James DePriest, Kurt Masur, Pierre Boulez, and Bobby McFerrin, and toured Japan and Korea with the Juilliard Orchestra.

Since then, Lyris has become an active session violinist in NYC, performing and recording with artists from many genres. She has been heard on Bryan Adams' MTV Unplugged, live with Bono at the 1999 NetAid concert, live with the 2003 Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and has toured Europe and America with RCA recording artist Ke. Outside of the rock and pop worlds, she has also played with Israeli star Dudu Fisher, songwriter Michael Hunter Ochs, jazz legend Ornette Coleman and hip-hop giant Jay-Z (with ?Love of the Roots).

Aside from working with bands, Lyris enjoys collaborating with artists from other media. She has written, improvised and performed with choreographers such as Melissa Briggs, Meg Wolfe and Adele Myers. She has musical directed for productions such as Second Generation's "Making Tracks" and was behind the board producing the Manhattan Brass Quintet's album, "Manhattan Project". Lyris also developed and performs music for the stage show "Birth of a nASIAN" with actor-writer Kate Rigg.

Lyris' trip-hop comedy/music duo with Kate Rigg, Slanty Eyed Mama, performs at colleges and festivals around the world, including the Perth International Arts Festival (Australia), The Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., GirlFest Hawaii, Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, Vancouver International Comedy Festival, Grand Performances L.A., the NY Asian American Heritage Festival in Union Square Park and the Black and Blue Ball in NYC. They were also featured on PBS' Race in the Place.

HUNG, Lyris' progressive death/black metal band, is currently performing and touring around the country - keep an eye out for them on their website or on myspace!