HAYOUNG CHOI

“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. Hayoung’s recent highlights include performances with Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven Fruhling Orchestra, LA Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, European Union Youth Orchestra, and Filarmônica de Minas Gerais. She has also been appointed Artist in residence at Lotte Concert Hall in Seoul.

In this upcoming season, Choi will be making her debut with West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Bremer Philharmonic, Oregon Symphony Orchestra, Basel Chamber Orchestra, Cape Town Philharmonic and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jonathon Heyward. She is also set to return to Brussels Philharmonic to perform Beethoven’s Triple Concerto alongside Filippo Gorini and Andrea Cicalese.

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 and Barcelona Chamber Orchestra. She was invited to play at renowned music festivals, among them are Interlaken Classics, Kronberg Chamber Music Festival, Troja Festival, Colorado Music Festival, and Moritzburg 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. She is currently pursuing Baroque cello studies with Lea Rahel Bader at the University of the Arts Berlin. Hayoung Choi plays on the 1707 ex-Starker Joseph filius Andrea Guarnerius cello on loan from an anonymous donor.

September 2026