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Honens Prize Laureate

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Pianist Minsoo Sohn has been described by the Boston Globe as an artist, a man who will create a life in music, find listeners, and reward them. Known as a performer with poetic vision and musical intelligence, Sohn continues to garner praise from critics and audiences alike for his masterful virtuosity and for his wide range of repertoire. The latest accolade, published by Gramophone writes of his playing as “highly distinctive and intelligent” and the New York Times called his Honens-label recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations a “beautifully articulated, radiant interpretation” and named it one of the top classical recordings of 2011.

Sohn has toured extensively throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Israel at important venues including Weill Recital Hall and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, Argentina’s Teatro Colon, Toronto’s Glenn Gould Studio and St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall and Gardner Museum, Calgary’s Jack Singer Concert Hall, Arrata Opera Centre and Rozsa Centre, Vancouver’s Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, Banff Centre’s Rolston Recital Hall, Ottawa’s National Arts Centre, Chicago’s Cultural Center, Cleveland’s Severance Hall, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, Spain’s Palacio Festivalle de Cantabria, Israel’s Tel Aviv Museum of Art and Mann Auditorium, Brussel’s Palais des Beaux Art and Theatre Royal de la Monnaie, and Munich’s Gasteig. He has also appeared at the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York, New Hampshire’s Monadnock Festival, Spain’s Santander Festival, Israel’s Eilat Festival, Canada’s Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, Colors of Music festival, Tuckamore Festival, Vitoria Chamber Music Festival, Gilmore Rising Stars Series and Celebrity Series of Boston.

He has collaborated with leading conductors such as Gilbert Varga, Keith Lockhart, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jane Glover, Yoav Talmi, Goerges Octors, Jahja Ling, David Hoose, Roy Goodman, Andrew Grams, Daejin Kim and has performed with orchestras including Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, Calgary Philharmonic, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Israel Philharmonic, Jerusalem Camerata, Holland Symfonia, National Orchestra of Belgium, Cleveland Chamber Orchestra, New Hampshire Symphony, Tallahassee Symphony, Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra, Bucheon Philharmonic, Symphony SONG, Seoul Arts Center Festival Orchestras among others.

An avid chamber musician, Sohn has performed with Aviv Quartet, Cecilia Quartet, and Ysaÿe Quartet. He also has collaborated with Mark Morris Dance Group alongside Russell Sherman and the Orchestra of Emmanuel Music in the Boston premiere of Mozart Dances.

Sohn’s notable interpretation of Bach’s Goldberg Variations has been broadcast numerous times on CBC — including live broadcast of the Glenn Gould 75th birthday commemoration concert—and across the United States on NPR’s Performance Today. He made guest appearances in a number of other radio stations, including WFMT (Chicago), WGBH Classical Performance (Boston), The New Classical 96.3FM Live from the Concert Lobby (Toronto) and CBC Live on Studio Sparks (Ottawa). His performance with Boston Symphony Salute to Symphony concert was broadcast on CBS and A&E Channels. Sohn was also featured on Canada’s Bravo! channel.

Sohn’s debut recording, Liszt Transcriptions and Etudes, released in the fall of 2008, “brings an elegant intensity while tossing off fearsome technical challenges without breaking stride” wrote the Toronto Star. The subsequent recording, Bach’s Goldberg Variations, was released to great critical acclaim.

In 2006, Sohn became the First Laureate of the Honens International Piano Competition. Prior to that, he was top prize winner of international competitions such as the Busoni, Cleveland, Hilton Head, Rubinstein, and Laureate of Santander and Queen Elizabeth competitions.

Born in South Korea, Sohn began piano studies at age three. He studied at Korean University of Arts with Daejin Kim and Kyung-Sook Lee, then moved to Boston to study with Russell Sherman and Wha Kyung Byun at New England Conservatory where he received his artist diploma in 2004.

He has given master classes at institutions worldwide and has taught at international festivals. He has also served as a juror at the Top of the World international Piano Competition, and will be serving as a juror at the 2018 Honens International Piano Competition. After teaching at Michigan State University for five years, Sohn returned to Korea to join the faculty of Korean National University of Arts in 2015 where he instantly became a much sought after performer as well as an educator. For the commemoration of Beethoven’s 250th anniversary on the year of 2020, Sohn has started to perform and record the complete cycle of the Beethoven piano sonatas.

Bookings

Worldwide

Honens
Calgary, Canada

+ 1 403 299 0130laureates@honens.com
Sland Components

Jon Kimura Parker, Artistic Director

1175-105 12 Avenue SE
Calgary AB T2G 1A1
Canada

Canadian Registered Charity No.
# 13023 8975 RR0001

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