Yeol Eum Son


Yeol Eum Son is a South Korean classical pianist. She first drew international attention when she appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Lorin Maazel in 2004. Her awards include the Silver Medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition 2011, in which she also received the Best Chamber Concerto Performances and the Best Performance of the Commissioned Work.

Childhood

Son took her first piano lesson at the age of three and a half. She made a recital debut on Kumho Prodigy Concert Series in July 1998. At the age of twelve, she started studying with pianist Kim Dae-jin. At age sixteen, she entered the Korea National University of Arts to continue her piano studies. At the age of 18, she recorded the complete Chopin Etudes for a CD on the Universal Music Label.

Career

She has performed with New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, NHK Symphony Orchestra, State Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Russian Federation, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra and many others under the baton of Yuri Bashmet, Karel Mark Chichon, Myung-whun Chung, Roberto Carnevale, James Conlon, Lawrence Foster, Valery Gergiev, Dmitri Kitayenko, Lorin Maazel, Ludovic Morlot. Since 2006, she has been studying with Arie Vardi at the Hochschule für Musik und Theatre, Hannover, Germany.

Writing career

Since May 2010, she has written a monthly column for the JoongAng Sunday, a Sunday edition of JoongAng Ilbo, one of Korea's most widely read newspapers.

Awards