Yekwon Sunwoo

A pianist whose refined sensitivity and nuanced articulation have earned widespread recognition, Yekwon Sunwoo has forged an international career through performances of technically demanding repertoire. Born in Anyang, South Korea in 1989, he began piano lessons at eight and received his initial training from Min-ja Shin and Sun-wha Kim. As a teenager he moved to the United States, enrolling first at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music and later completing a master’s degree at Juilliard with Robert McDonald. Among his competition victories are the 2015 International German Piano Award in Frankfurt, the 2014 Vendome Prize awarded at the Verbier Festival, and the 2012 William Kapell International Piano Competition. He has appeared as soloist with Itzhak Perlman at the Juilliard School and with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra led by Marin Alsop, while recital engagements have taken him across Europe, Asia, and Central America. His first solo album appeared in 2014 on the Fontec label. In June 2017 Sunwoo captured the gold medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Houston, Texas; Decca subsequently released a recording of that recital under the title Cliburn Gold 2017. The same year also saw the release of Crossing Spheres, featuring works by Beethoven, Liszt, Chopin, and Tchaikovsky.