Hye-Won Cho, Piano

Biography

Ms. Hye-Won Cho’s brilliant technique and sensitive musicality have garnered her accolades worldwide.  As the first prize winner of the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, Ms. Cho presented an all-Liszt recital program at the Liszt Ferenc Centre in Budapest, Hungary, in addition to various recitals throughout Los Angeles.  Ms. Cho is also the grand prize winner of the Peninsula Young Artist International Competition and received the top prize at the ARTS Competition, sponsored by the National Foundation for Advancement in Arts in Miami, Florida, where she was one of five pianists in the United States invited to compete.

In addition to her competition success, Ms. Cho has also performed as recitalist, chamber musician and soloist with orchestra in numerous prestigious venues around the world.  She has performed in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center and the Juilliard Theatre in New York; Walt Disney Concert Hall, Wilshire-Ebell Theater, Zipper Hall and Schoenberg Hall in Los Angeles; Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory in Boston (simultaneously broadcast on the national radio program “From the Top” on NPR); and the Gewanthaus in Leipzig, Germany. 

Ms. Cho’s orchestral performances include with La Mirada Symphony, the Brentwood-Westwood Symphony, the YMF Debut Orchestra, the UCLA Philharmonia, and the Los Angeles Sinfonietta.  Her upcoming orchestral appearances include a performance of Poulenc’s concerto for two pianos and orchestra in January 2014 with the Los Angeles Sinfonietta.  She has also performed in such prestigious music festivals as the Kniesel Hall Chamber Music Festival in Maine, the Yellowbarn Chamber Music Festival in Vermont, and the Banff Music Festival in Banff, Canada.

Born in Seoul, Korea, Ms. Cho started piano lessons at the age of five. Her major teachers include Ick-Choo Moon, Jerome Lowenthal, Robert McDonald, and Walter Ponce.  Ms. Cho received both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees as a scholarship student from the Juilliard School in New York and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she received the Elaine Krown Klein Scholarship and served as a teaching assistant for Professor Walter Ponce, chairman of UCLA’s piano department.