VC ARTIST
Cellist Hayoung Choi
South Korean cellist Hayoung Choi, born in Bielefeld, Germany in 1998, is the First Prize Winner of the 2022 Queen Elisabeth Competition for Cello. She also won First Prizes at the 3rd Krzysztof Penderecki International Cello Competition and Johannes Brahms International Competition. During the Kronberg Cello Masterclasses, she was awarded the “Landgrave of Hesse Prize” and “Leyda Ungerer Music Prize.” Most recently, she was selected as the inaugural recipient of the FENDI Music Award.
Her recent and current highlights include performances with the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra, Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra, Kosice Philharmonic Orchestra, Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Classical Players, and KBS Symphony Orchestra.
The 23/24 season brings her debut with orchestras such as the LA Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, European Union Youth Orchestra, and Orquestra Filarmônica de Minas Gerais.
Hayoung made her debut with the Camerata Salzburg performing Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1 at the age of twelve. She has performed with numerous orchestras such as the Kremerata Baltica Orchestra, Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra, Barcelona Chamber Orchestra, and Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra. She was invited to play at renowned music festivals, among them are the Amsterdam Cello Biennale, Kronberg Cello Festival, City of London Festival, and Prades Pablo Casals Festival.
As a chamber musician, she has performed with musicians such as Sir András Schiff, Gidon Kremer, Christian Tetzlaff, Kim Kashkashian, Jörg Widmann, and Mitsuko Uchida.
She attended the Purcell School in the UK and received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees at the Kronberg Academy in Germany under the tutelage of Professor Frans Helmerson. Later on, she completed the professional studies program in Kronberg in the class of Professor Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt. She currently studies at the prestigious Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid, Spain with Professor Ivan Monighetti.
Hayoung Choi plays on the 1707 ex-Starker Joseph filius Andrea Guarnerius cello on loan from an anonymous donor.
