“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.
August 2025
“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.
August 2025
https://www.hayoungchoi.com
Instrumentalists
