Eric Sung is the Principal Cellist of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. He has studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music, University of Southern California, and the Juilliard School. His principal teachers have been Stephen Geber, David Geber, Ronald Leonard, Fred Sherry and Lynn Harrell and he has participated in masterclasses with notable cellists such as Laurence Lesser, Frans Helmerson, Joel Krosnick, Janos Starker, Steven Isserlis, Norman Fischer, Aldo Parisot and Irene Sharp.

An avid chamber musician, Eric has performed at the Taos, Sarasota, Scotia, Kent/Blossom, Aspen, Tanglewood, Mendocino and San Luis Obispo Mozaic Festivals. Sung studied with members of the American, Cleveland, Orion, Takacs, and Guarneri String Quartets and has performed in concert with the California E.A.R. Unit, Duke String Quartet, Quartet San Francisco, Joshua Bell, Michael Tree, Ronald Leonard, Alexander Kerr, John Graham, Lawrence Dutton, and Jeffrey Kahane.

Eric has been heard as soloist with the Colburn Chamber Orchestra, Saratoga Symphony, Stanford University Summer Symphony, Contra Costa Chamber Orchestra and the Aspen Academy of Conducting Orchestra. He has participated in the New York String Seminar, Piatigorsky Seminar and has performed at the National Repertory Orchestra, National Orchestra Institute, Pacific, Verbier Festivals and the Sun Valley Symphony.

He was a member of the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra and was Assistant Principal of the Hong Kong Philharmonic. Eric has served as Acting/Guest Principal of the Sydney Symphony and the National Arts Centre Orchestra and has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the San Francisco Opera Orchestra.

A dedicated teacher, Eric is on the faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Pre-College Division and the Nueva School, as well as maintaining a private studio. His students have been prize winners at various competitions including the Johansen International Competition, US Open International Music Competition, American Protege, Junior Bach Festival, Menuhin-Dowling, Mission College Symphony Young Artists Competition, American Fine Arts Festival, Chinese Music Teachers Association of California, and Korean Times Music Competition. Eric’s students have been accepted at schools including Harvard, MIT, Yale, USC, NEC, and Stanford. They have also participated at festivals including Yellow Barn, Bowdoin, Aspen, Music@Menlo, and the Heifetz Institute and have been heard on the radio program, From the Top.

Eric has served as a coach for the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, San Francisco Academy Orchestra, KAMSA Youth Orchestra and the Orchestra Institute Napa Valley.

A keen appreciator of antique instruments and bows, Eric plays on a Jacob Cordanus cello from 1774 and the ex-Budd, ex-Starker Peccatte-School bow.

Eric makes his home in San Francisco with his wife, Wenyi Shih, and their cat, Muffin, a tabby tortoiseshell mix.