Biography

One of the most sought-after pianists of her generation, South Korean pianist HieYon Choi first gained international recognition after winning prizes at high-profile competitions such as Kapell, Epinal, Busoni and Viotti International. Since then, she has been performing with renowned orchestras across Europe, the United States and Korea, including National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, D.C.), Northern Sinfonia, Rundfunkorchester Berlin, Berlin Symphoniker, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and Korean Broadcast Symphony Orchestra. She has also been invited as a soloist at numerous festivals and concert series worldwide.

A milestone of Choi’s performing career was the four-year long cycle of all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas at the sold-out Kumho Art Hall in Seoul. This monumental achievement earned her the 2003 Nanpa Awards and the 2005 Arts Award of the Year by the Arts Council Korea. She later completed another Beethoven cycle featuring all of his piano trios, violin sonatas and works for cello and piano at the same venue. Her second complete Beethoven piano sonata cycle took place in various locations across Korea, Germany, Sweden, Croatia and the United States and concluded in 2018. Her other notable series include ones that explored Brahms and his associates and that of French school. She has collaborated with esteemed musicians such as Truls Mørk, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Peter Stumph, Jennifer Koh, Ulf Wallin, Mikyung Lee, Soovin Kim and Stephan Dohr, among others.

Alongside the canon of the classical piano literature such as Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Debussy, modern music forms another important part of Choi’s artistic journey. A devoted advocate of the new music, she was the inaugural Artist-in-Residence of Tong-Yeong International Music festival in Korea and has performed works of Olivier Messiaen, György Kurtag, Sofia Gubaidulina, York Höller, Peter Eötvös, Sukhi Kang, Unsuk Chin, Juri Seo a. o. for the LA Philharmonic Green Umbrella, Seoul Philharmonic Ars Nova, Seoul International Music Festival, Ilshin Prism Series. As a visionary pedagogue, Choi directed various contemporary music projects at Seoul National University, contributing to the enrichment of musical scene in Korea.

Between 2015 and 2023, Choi embarked on an extensive recording project of Beethoven’s complete piano sonatas at the prestigious Teldex Studio in Berlin. Her first Beethoven album, released under the Decca label in 2018, was highly noted by German and Korean publications. Her other recordings include Beethoven The Great Sonatas, Debussy Douze Etudes, Liszt Six Grand Etudes on Paganini, Isang Yun 5 Stücke, Chopin Etudes Op. 10 & Op. 25. She has been featured in television and radio broadcasts in Korea, the United States, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, and Germany.

In 2023/24, Choi joined the piano faculty at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA, after serving for 24 years as a tenured professor at Seoul National University in Korea. Many of her students have gone on to establish successful careers as performers and educators in Korea, Germany, France, and the United States. Choi has given numerous masterclasses worldwide at institutions such as the Guildhall School of Music & Drama (London), Sibelius Academy (Helsinki), and leading conservatories in Paris, Freiburg, Karlsruhe, Düsseldorf, and Bremen in Germany, as well as at Manhattan School of Music, Boston, Cincinnati, Michigan, and Kansas in the United States. She has also taught at conservatories and summer festivals in Hong Kong, China, Korea, Amalfi, Brescia, Vienna, Prague, St. Petersburg, Orléans, San Francisco, Chicago, Bowdoin, Tampa, Jeju, Busan, and Yongpyeong. Additionally, she serves as a jury member for prestigious international competitions, including the Beethoven, Maj Lind, Pozzoli, Epinal, and Orléans.

Born in Incheon, South Korea, Choi made her concerto debut at the age of six with the Incheon Philharmonic Orchestra. Under the early guidance of Professor Joong-Won Koh, she won all four of Korea’s most prestigious competitions (Dong-A, JoongAng, Korea Times, and Ewha-KyungHyang). At 18, she moved to Germany to study with Professor Klaus Hellwig at the Berlin University of the Arts. She later continued her studies with the late Hans Leygraf in the same institute and with the late György Sebők at Indiana University.

updated 2025