Kun-woo Paik (born March 10, 1946 in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

) is a South Korean pianist. He has performed with multiple orchestras, including the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

, the

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...

, and the

Saint Petersburg Philharmonic The Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra (russian: Симфонический оркестр Санкт-Петербургской филармонии, ''Symphonic Orchestra of the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia'') is a Russian orchestra based ...

Early life

Kun-Woo Paik was born in

. He gave his first concert, aged 10, with the Korean National Orchestra, playing Grieg's

Piano Concerto A piano concerto is a type of concerto, a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for a piano player, which is typically accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuoso showpie ...

. In the following years, he performed many important works in Korea, including several local premieres such as

Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...

's ''

Pictures at an Exhibition ''Pictures at an Exhibition'', french: Tableaux d'une exposition, link=no is a suite of ten piano pieces, plus a recurring, varied Promenade theme, composed by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky in 1874. The piece is Mussorgsky's most famous pia ...

''. Later he studied in New York (

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely ...

), London, and Italy with

Rosina Lhévinne Rosina Lhévinne (née Bessie; March 29, 1880 – November 9, 1976) was a Russian pianist and famed pedagogue born in Kyiv, Russian Empire. Early life, education and family Rosina Bessie was the younger of two daughters of Maria (née Katz) and ...

Ilona Kabos Ilona Kabos (7 December 189327 May 1973) was a Hungarian-British pianist and teacher. Biography Kabos was born in Budapest in 1893 (some sources give her year of birth as 1894, 1898 or 1902). She studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music unde ...

Guido Agosti Guido Agosti (11 August 19012 June 1989) was an Italian pianist and piano teacher. Agosti was born in Forlì in 1901. He studied piano with Ferruccio Busoni, Bruno Mugellini and Filippo Ivaldi, earning his diploma at age 13. He studied counterp ...

and

Wilhelm Kempff Wilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff (25 November 1895 – 23 May 1991) was a German pianist and composer. Although his repertoire included Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Brahms, Kempff was particularly well known for his interpretations ...

. Kun-Woo Paik is a laureate of the

Naumburg Naumburg () is a town in (and the administrative capital of) the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018 ...

and Busoni International Piano Competitions.

Career

Over the years, Kun-Woo Paik has performed recitals in major musical centres such as the

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built ...

Wigmore Hall Wigmore Hall is a concert hall located at 36 Wigmore Street, London. Originally called Bechstein Hall, it specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals. It is widely regarded as one of the world's leadi ...

, and

Berlin Philharmonie The Berliner Philharmonie () is a concert hall in Berlin, Germany, and home to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The Philharmonie lies on the south edge of the city's Tiergarten and just west of the former Berlin Wall. The Philharmonie is o ...

. He has performed with such orchestras as the

, the

(''Last Night of the Proms'' 1987), Pittsburgh Symphony,

Russian National Orchestra The Russian National Orchestra (russian: Российский национальный оркестр) was founded in Moscow in 1990 by pianist and conductor Mikhail Pletnev. It was the first Russian orchestra to perform at the Apostolic Palace, ...

Orchestre de Paris The Orchestre de Paris () is a French orchestra based in Paris. The orchestra currently performs most of its concerts at the Philharmonie de Paris. History In 1967, following the dissolution of the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du ...

Orchestre National de France The Orchestre national de France (ONF; literal translation, ''National Orchestra of France'') is a French symphony orchestra based in Paris, founded in 1934. Placed under the administration of the French national radio (named Radio France sinc ...

, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Rai Torino, Warsaw Philharmonic,

English Chamber Orchestra The English Chamber Orchestra (ECO) is a British chamber orchestra based in London. The full orchestra regularly plays concerts at Cadogan Hall, and their ensemble performs at Wigmore Hall. The orchestra regularly tours in the UK and internationall ...

, and Polish National Radio Orchestra, with such conductors as

Mariss Jansons Mariss Ivars Georgs Jansons (14 January 1943 – 1 December 2019) was a Latvian conductor best known for his interpretations of Mahler, Strauss and Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich. During his lifetime he w ...

, Sir

Neville Marriner Sir Neville Marriner, (15 April 1924 – 2 October 2016) was an English violinist and "one of the world's greatest conductors". Gramophone lists Marriner as one of the 50 greatest conductors and another compilation ranks Marriner #14 of the ...

Lawrence Foster Lawrence Foster (born October 23, 1941) is an American conductor of Romanian ancestry. He is currently the artistic director and chief conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra and the music director of the Marseille Opera and th ...

Mikhail Pletnev Mikhail Vasilievich Pletnev (russian: Михаи́л Васи́льевич Плетнёв, ''Mikha'il Vas'ilevič Plet'nëv''; born 14 April 1957) is a Russian pianist, conductor and composer. Life and career Pletnev was born into a musical fa ...

Dmitri Kitayenko Dmitri Georgievich Kitayenko (also spelled Dmitrij Kitajenko) (born 18 August 1940) is a Soviet and Russian conductor. He was bestowed the title People's Artist of the USSR (1984). He was born in Leningrad, Soviet Union and studied at the Glinka ...

, James Conlon, John Nelson, and

Eliahu Inbal Eliahu Inbal (born 16 February 1936, Jerusalem) is an Israeli conductor. Inbal studied violin at the Israeli Academy of Music and took composition lessons with Paul Ben-Haim. Upon hearing him there, Leonard Bernstein endorsed a scholarship for ...

. Kun-Woo Paik is also a regular guest artist at major music festivals such as the Berlin Festwochen,

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille ...

, La Roque-d'Anthéron, Colmar, Spoleto, Aldeburgh, "Mostly Mozart" and Ravinia Festivals, and has toured extensively in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Italy. His repertoire comprises such rare works as Busoni's

, Fauré's ''Fantasy for piano and orchestra'' and

Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

's ''Fantasy on themes from Berlioz's "

Lélio ''Lélio, ou Le retour à la vie'' (English: ''Lélio, or the Return to Life'') Op. 14b, is a work incorporating music and spoken text by the French composer Hector Berlioz, intended as a sequel to his ''Symphonie fantastique''. It is written f ...

"''. Kun-Woo Paik also performs a wide selection of transcriptions by Liszt and Berlioz and is the dedicatee of Suk-Hi Kang's piano concerto. Paik has recorded the complete

Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...

piano concertos with

Antoni Wit Antoni Wit (born February 7, 1944) is a Polish conductor, composer, lawyer and professor at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music. Between 2002 and 2013, he served as the artistic director of the National Philharmonic in Warsaw. Life and career ...

and the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra for RCA (Diapason d'Or in 1993), the complete

Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...

piano concertos with

Vladimir Fedoseyev Vladimir Ivanovich Fedoseyev ( rus, Владимир Иванович Федосе́ев, p=, links=no; born 5 August 1932, in Leningrad, Soviet Union) is a Soviet and Russian conductor, accordionist, teacher. People's Artist of the USSR (1980). ...

and the

Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra The Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra is a Russian classical music radio orchestra established in 1930. It was founded as the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, and served as the official symphony for the Soviet All-Union Radio network. History Followi ...

(BMG), as well as several solo CDs of Scriabin, Liszt, Mussorgsky, Rachmaninoff and

Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sym ...

piano music. In 2000, he signed an exclusive recording contract with Decca Classics. His first release featured the piano transcriptions of the organ works of J. S. Bach made by Busoni. Between 2005 and 2007, Decca recorded Paik in the complete piano sonatas of

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

. He was the Artistic Director of the Emerald Coast Music Festival in

Dinard Dinard (; br, Dinarzh, ; Gallo: ''Dinard'') is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department, Brittany, northwestern France. Dinard is on the Côte d'Émeraude of Brittany. Its beaches and mild climate make it a holiday destination, and this ...

(

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

) for 21 years, from 1993 to 2014. He programmed a large range of music, from baroque, through romantic, and contemporary music; performed by top international artists to a large audience, and notably with free outdoor concerts, concerts for children, and concerts with young virtuosi. In November 2014, he was fired from this position by the Mayor of

, Martine Craveia-Schütz, to be replaced by the Egyptian pianist

Ramzi Yassa Ramzi Yassa ( ar, رمزى يسى; born 1948) is an Egyptian pianist. Born in Cairo, Yassa is an outstanding member of the first batch of musicians trained at the Cairo Conservatory. Yassa then joined the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow in the ...

; Kun-Woo Paik expressed in a long letter to the Mayor of Dinard his "stupefaction and deep sorrow". Kun-Woo Paik was made "Chevalier de l'ordre des arts et des lettres" by the French Government in 2000. In September 2000, he was the first Korean artist to be officially invited to perform in China.

Personal life

Paik has resided in Paris with his wife, actress

Yoon Jeong-hee Yoon Jeong-hee (; born July 30, 1944) is a South Korean actress active since 1967. Career Yoon was born in Gwangju, South Korea and debuted as an actress in 1967 by starring in ''Cheongchun Geukjang'' directed by Gang Dae-jin after being chos ...

since 1974. Yoon is a star of the late 1960s, commonly referred to as one of ''"The First Troika"'' by the South Korean news media, along with two other actresses in rivalry, Moon Hee, and

Nam Jeong-im Nam Jeong-im (July 21, 1945 – September 2, 1992) was a South Korean actress. Nam was commonly referred to as one of the "Troika" along with her rival actresses, Yoon Jeong-hee and Moon Hee of the 1960s and early 1970s. Filmography *Note; th ...

. The couple has a daughter, Paik Jin-hi, who is a violinist.

Discography

*2020 Schumann - DG *2012

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...

Intermezzi - DG *2010 Brahms Piano Concerto No.1, Variations; ; Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor

- DG *2008 The complete piano sonatas of

issued in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...

. *2007 Beethoven: Piano Sonatas 27 to 32 - Decca *2006 Beethoven: Piano Sonatas 1 to 15 - Decca *2005 Beethoven: Piano Sonatas 16 to 26 - Decca *2003 Chopin: Complete works for piano and orchestra; Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor

- Decca *2002 Fauré Piano works - Diapason d'Or award - Decca *2001 Hahn Works for two pianos, with Hüseyin Sermet -

Naïve Naivety (also spelled naïvety), naiveness, or naïveté is the state of being naive. It refers to an apparent or actual lack of experience and sophistication, often describing a neglect of pragmatism in favor of moral idealism. A ''naïve'' may ...

V4902 *2000 J.S. Bach: Piano works in transcriptions by Busoni - Toccata BW564, 10 chorale preludes, Chaconne BW1004 - Decca *2000 Piano works by

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most infl ...

Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among the best-kno ...

and

Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, Paris Conse ...

- EMI Music *1998

: Complete Works for Piano and Orchestra *1998

: ''

Songs Without Words ''Songs Without Words'' (') is a series of short lyrical piano works by the Romantic composer Felix Mendelssohn written between 1829 and 1845. His sister, Fanny Mendelssohn, and other composers also wrote pieces in the same genre. Music The ...

'' *1996 Scriabin: Piano works *1994

: Complete Piano Concertos *1993 Schmitt: Three rhapsodies for two pianos, Op. 53, with Huseyin Sermet - Auvidis *1992 Mendelssohn: ''Songs Without Words'' - Diapason d'Or award - Dante *1992 Rachmaninoff: The 4 piano concertos, ''

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini The ''Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini'', Op. 43, (russian: Рапсодия на тему Паганини, ''Rapsodiya na temu Paganini'') is a concertante work written by Sergei Rachmaninoff for piano and orchestra, closely resembling a piano ...

'' - RCA *1992 Rachmaninoff: Piano sonatas 1 and 2 - Diapason d'Or award - Dante *1992 Prokofiev: Piano Sonatas 6, 7 and 8 - Diapason d'Or award - Dante *1992

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

: Complete Piano Works *1992 Scriabin: Piano works Diapason d'Or award - Dante *1992 Scriabin: Sonata Nos 6 and 9 and other piano works - Diapason d'Or award - Dante *1991 Prokofiev: The 5 Piano concertos; Polish National Radio Orchestra - Disque d'or - Prix Nouvelle ~Académie du Disque - 2CD Naxos *1991

: Piano works and music by French composers (

, Debussy, Satie) 2 CD - Virgin *1991 Ravel: The works for solo piano - Diapason d'Or award - Dante *1983 Ravel: Piano Concerto in G, Concerto for Left Hand; Stuttgart Radio Symphony,

Gary Bertini Gary Bertini ( he, גארי ברתיני, May 1, 1927 – March 17, 2005) was one of the most important Israeli musicians and conductors. In 1978 he was awarded the Israel Prize for Music. Biography Gary Bertini was born ''Shloyme Golergant'' i ...

, conductor - Pro Arte Sinfonia

Awards

*1971 Winner of

Naumburg International Piano Competition The Naumburg International Piano Competition is the name given to all the piano competitions sponsored by the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation. It is a competition for young pianists, of ages 17 to 32, organized in New York City, United States sinc ...

*1992 Golden Diapason Prize (Alexander Scriabin Album) *1993 Golden Diapason Prize (Sergei Prokofiev Album) *2000

Ho-Am Prize in the Arts The Ho-Am Prize was established in 1990 by Kun-Hee Lee, the Chairman of Samsung, with a vision to create a new corporate culture that continues the noble spirit of public service espoused by the late Chairman Byung-chull Lee, founder of Samsung. ...

*2009 Kyung-Ahm Prize *2010 Order of Cultural Merit "Kun Woo Paik is awarded Order of Merit,"
ICA International Classical Artists (UK). 3 December 2010, citin
"Pianist Paik Kun-woo honored,"
''Korea Herald'' (ROK). 2 November 2010, retrieved 2011-04-22

References

External links

at Bach-Cantata.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Paik, Kun-Woo South Korean classical pianists Juilliard School alumni People from Seoul 1946 births Living people Recipients of the Order of Cultural Merit (Korea) 21st-century classical pianists Recipients of the Ho-Am Prize in the Arts