Ji-yoen Choi (pronounced Jiyun), winner of the 2000 National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance of the American Guild of Organists, has studied music since the age of four. She was born in Seoul, Korea, where she attended the Sun-Wha Music and Art School, studying piano with Suk Kim and Ku-young Lee. At Yonsei University, she studied organ with Tong-soon Kwak, receiving her BMus degree there in 1994. Following graduation, Ms. Choi came to Baltimore, Maryland to study organ with Donald Sutherland and harpsichord with Webb Wiggins at the Peabody Conservatory, receiving her MMus in 1996. Currently, she is a doctoral student at The Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Michael Farris prior to his untimely death in 1999. Ms. Choi has earned the Performer's Certificate at Eastman, and has continued her organ study, first with Katharine Pardee and, currently, with David Higgs. Ji-yoen Choi has competed in numerous North American organ competitions, winning second prize in the San Marino Competition (1997), as well as in the 1999 Ft. Wayne Competition. She competed in the 1997-98 NYACOP and was a finalist in the 1998 Calgary International Organ Competition. In addition to her studies at Eastman, Ms. Choi was organist at St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Penfield, New York. The first prize for the "NYACOP" includes professional career development and management with Karen McFarlane Artists for a period of two years, the purpose of which is to assist the young performer to build a career in concert performance. In addition to the management
