Korean-born pianist Yeol Eum Son has succeeded not only in the institutional worlds of competition prizes and concert bookings, but also in the populist arena of YouTube, where her performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467, at the Tchaikovsky competition has amassed more than ten million views.
Ms. Son was born in Wonju, South Korea, on May 2, 1986, and she remains an honorary arts ambassador of the city. Son began studying the piano at age three and made her recital debut at 12 as a Kumho Prodigy. The first part of her training took place in China with Cheng-Zong Yin and in Korea with Kim Dae-jin at the Korean National University of the Arts, where she matriculated at 16.
In 2006 she moved to Hanover, Germany, where she studied with Arie Vardi at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater. At 18 she made a major international breakthrough, performing as soloist with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Lorin Maazel.
Son has continued to attract collaborations with an unusual selection of top conductors, including Valery Gergiev, Myung-Whun Chung, James Conlon, and Yuri Bashmet.
Listen to Ms. Son now, as she plays Schumann’s wonderful “Scenes of Childhood”, (Kinderszenen)
