Pianist Yeol eum Son was awarded both the Silver Medal and the Steven De Groote Memorial Award for the Best Performance of Chamber Music in the Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in June 2009.
Already acknowledged as an artist to watch in Asia, Miss Son adds European and North American recognition and performance opportunities to her portfolio through her affiliation with the Van Cliburn Foundation.

A native of South Korea’s Kangwon Province, the pianist drew international attention
when she appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Lorin
Maazel, performing Beethoven’s Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 19 on the
Philharmonic’s historic tour to Seoul in 2008. She had also previously performed Liszt’s
Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major with the Philharmonic under Maazel on its 2004
tour of Asia.

A favorite among international orchestras, Ms. Son has appeared with the Israel
Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, and Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestras as well as the
NHK Symphony and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestras in Japan and the Jerusalem
Symphony Orchestra in Israel. She has performed with the Seoul Philharmonic, KBS
Symphony, and every other major orchestra in her home country of South Korea, and is
also a regular among orchestras in the United States, including the Pacific Symphony,
Utah Symphony, and the orchestras of Greenville, Hudson Valley, Hartford, Springfield
(MO), and Columbus.
Ms. Son is invited frequently to participate in international music festivals, including
Germany’s Bad-Kissingen Summer Music Festival and Reingau Music Festival, Poland’s
Beethoven Easter Festival in Krakow and Chopin Piano Festival in Duszniki-Zdrój, and
the Portland, Bowdoin, Sanibel, and Ventura Music Festivals in the United States. As a
soloist and chamber musician, she has toured extensively throughout the United States,
Europe, and Asia.

Considered one of Korea’s most important pianists, Ms. Son was particularly honored to play at the 2007 welcoming concert for the eighth Secretary- General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, at the U.N. General Assembly Hall in New York City.

In the summer of 2010, she returned to the Bad-Kissingen Summer Music Festival,
replacing Leiv Ove Andsnes in solo recital. She followed this with a recital at the
Duszniki Chopin Piano Festival in Poland and a performance in Santo Domingo with the
National Orchestra of the Dominican Republic at a gala event featuring the three
medalists of the Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Ms. Son will open the 2010-2011 season with a residency in Tel Aviv, performing in solo
recital as well as with the Israel Camerata. She will appear in solo and chamber recitals
throughout the United States, Korea, Israel, and Turkey. In addition, she will perform in
concert with symphony orchestras such as Syracuse, Colorado Springs, and Wichita as
well as the Sinfonietta Be’er Sheva under the baton of Arie Vardi.

In addition to her achievement at the Cliburn Competition, the pianist was the first place
winner in Italy’s 2002 Viotti International Music Competition, as well as the winner of
Germany’s Kissinger Klavierolympiade in Bad-Kissingen and the 2000 Ettlingen
International Piano Competition. She won third prize in the triennial Arthur Rubinstein
International Piano Competition in 2005. Named Kumho Musician of the Year in 2005,
Miss Son is supported by the Kumho-Asiana Cultural Foundation.

A recording of her performance of Barber’s Sonata for Piano, Op. 26 and Debussy’s
Preludes, Book 1 was recently released on the Harmonia Mundi label. This recording of
her prize-winning Van Cliburn Competition performance joins her debut CD of the
complete Chopin Etudes. Released in 2004 on the Universal Music label to critical
acclaim, it was sold out within months and subsequently re-released.

Yeol eum Son currently studies with Arie Vardi at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater
Hannover in Germany, where she now makes her home. She holds a degree from the
Korean National University of the Arts, where she studied with Dae Jin Kim. In addition
to her busy performance schedule, Ms. Son is an honorary ambassador of her home city
of Wonju, Korea and writes regularly for the Joong-Ang Times, one of Korea’s most
widely read publications.