Yeol Eum Son
| Yeol Eum Son | |
| Hangul | 손열음 |
|---|---|
| Revised Romanization | Son Yeoleum |
| McCune–Reischauer | Son Yǒlǔm |
Yeol Eum Son (born May 2, 1986, in Wonju, South Korea) 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 (Op. 10 and Op. 25) 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, 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
- 1997: 2nd Prize, International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians
- 1999: 1st Prize, Oberlin International Piano Competition
- 2001: 1st Prize, The 7th Ettlingen Piano Competition
- 2002: 1st Prize, 53rd Viotti International Music Competition
- 2005: 3rd Prize, Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition
- 2009: Silver Medal and Steven De Groote Memorial Award for the Best Performance of Chamber Music (shared with Evgeni Bozhanov), Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
- 2011: 2nd Prize, Best Chamber Concerto (Mozart Concerto) Performance, Best Performance of the Commissioned Work (by Rodion Shchedrin) XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition
Discography
- 2004: Chopin "24 Etudes" (Universal Music)
- 2008: Chopin "Nocturnes" for Piano and Orchestra (Universal Music)
- 2009: 13th Van Cliburn Competition: Yeol Eum Son, Silver Medalist (Harmonia Mundi)
- 2012: Yeol Eum Son, Piano (O'new World Music)