In 2007 Ian Yungwook Yoo won first prize in the Second Beethoven Competition in Bonn. His professional career was first launched when he won by unanimous vote first prize in the Thirteenth Paloma O’Shea Santander International Piano Competition in 1998. Since then he has performed in over twenty countries throughout the world, and released his first commercial CD under the Naxos label, featuring piano transcriptions by Franz Liszt. A prize-winner in other international competitions, including the Richter Competition in Moscow, Vianna da Motta in Portugal, International E-Competition in the United States and the Montreal International Music Competition in Canada, he enjoys a career that has brought collaboration with leading orchestras and conductors in addition to solo recitals.

Ian Yungwook Yoo was born in 1977 in Seoul, Korea, where he began his musical studies. He gave his first recital at the age of ten, performing his own compositions. His exceptional talent led to several grants to support his education in his native country and later in the United States. In 1996 he joined the Juilliard School, studying with Martin Canin and in 1997 with Jerome Lowenthal, receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in 2001. From 2002 he studied with Solomon Mikowsky at Manhattan School of Music, where he received the degree of Master of Music in 2004. Since 2009 he has been serving as a professor at the Yonsei University in Korea.

Discography