Biography
Violist Richard O'Neill ranks among the foremost interpreters of his instrument worldwide and enjoys particular favor in South Korea, the homeland of his forebears. Born in Sequim, Washington, on December 31, 1978, he is the son of a Korean War orphan whose early malnutrition led to lasting cognitive challenges; after his mother’s foster parents raised him, he adopted their surname and has performed at times under the name Richard Yongjae O'Neill. He began violin studies at age five, later transferring to viola on the advice of an instructor, while his grandmother regularly drove him from home to lessons in Seattle and across the Canadian border. At fifteen he entered the North Carolina High School of Visual and Performing Arts, then completed undergraduate studies at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music before earning a master’s degree at New York’s Juilliard School, where he became the first violist awarded the institution’s Artist Diploma. His principal teachers were Donald McInnes, Karen Tuttle, and Paul Neubauer. O'Neill has appeared in recital at such landmark sites as New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, and the Louvre Museum in Paris, and he has performed concertos with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony, and the Seoul Philharmonic. In South Korea his recordings have sold in the hundreds of thousands, prompting a five-hour television documentary devoted to his career; he also established Seoul’s Ditto Festival to bring chamber music to wider Korean audiences. His first commercial release, an album of Richard Muczynski chamber works on the Centaur label, appeared in 2004. Signed to Decca, he issued the recital Winter Journey in 2007 and has remained with the Decca/Universal group, which includes Deutsche Grammophon; in 2020 he recorded Christopher Theofanidis’s Viola Concerto for Albany Records. He has held teaching positions at Brown University and the University of California, Los Angeles, and has supported charitable causes such as Oxfam and the Special Olympics. Appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for the Korean Red Cross, he also competes in marathons to benefit humanitarian organizations.
Albums
