“A daring cellist with intense and flamboyant playing.” - Le Soir
“She captured the hearts of the audience and judges with her boldness and her inward-looking as well as expressive playing.” - RTBF
South Korean cellist Hayoung Choi, born in Bielefeld, is the First Prize Winner of the 2022 Queen Elisabeth Competition for Cello. She also won the First Prizes at the 3rd Krzysztof Penderecki International Cello Competition and Johannes Brahms International Competition. During the Kronberg Cello Masterclasses, she was awarded the “Landgrave of Hesse Prize” and “Leyda Ungerer Music Prize”. Most recently, she has been selected as the inaugural recipient of the FENDI Music Award.
Her recent highlights include performances with the Brussels Philharmonic, Belgian National Orchestra, Poznan Philharmonic, Kosice Philharmonic, Krakow Philharmonic, Boston Philharmonic and KBS Symphony Orchestra amongst others. The 23/24 season brings the debut with orchestras such as LA Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, European Union Youth Orchestra, and Filarmônica de Minas Gerais.
Choi made her debut with Camerata Salzburg performing Haydn’s Cello Concerto no.1 at the age of twelve. She has performed with numerous orchestras such as Kremerata Baltica Orchestra, Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra, Barcelona Chamber Orchestra and Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra. She was invited to play at renowned music festivals, among them are the Amsterdam Cello Biennale, Kronberg Cello Festival, City of London Festival, and Prades Pablo Casals Festival.
She attended the Purcell School in the UK and received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees at the Kronberg Academy in Germany under the tutelage of Prof. Frans Helmerson. Later on, she completed the professional studies programme in Kronberg, in the class of Prof. Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt.
Hayoung Choi plays on the 1707 ex-Starker Joseph filius Andrea Guarnerius cello on loan from an anonymous donor.
June 2024
