Praised by BBC Radio 3’s In Tune as “Magic”, pianist Joon Yoon made his solo recital debut in Korea at the age of 12 and his concerto debut in the U.S. a year later. Led by the curious and multi-faceted mind, he explores solo, chamber, vocal, and contemporary music, performing a wide range of repertoire.
In 2018, he was the unanimous winner of Guildhall School’s most distinguished award, the Gold Medal, previously won by artists such as Jacqueline du Pre and Bryn Terfel, for which he was named a BBC Music Magazine rising star. He won top prizes at competitions such as the Liszt-Garrison Piano Competition in the USA and the Piano Campus International Competition in France, as well as winning awards at the Campillos International Piano Competition in Spain, and the Verona International Piano Competition in Italy.
Joon performed in venues across Asia, Europe, and the USA, including the Barbican Center, Wigmore Hall, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Palau de la Musica, Seoul Arts Center, and Sejong Center for the Performing Arts. He made concerto appearances with the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra, Peabody Sinfonietta, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, and Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto.
He was a fellow of music festivals such as the Music Academy of the West, the Bowdoin International Music Festival’s Kaplan Fellowship program, where he collaborated with faculty members of notable music institutions such as the New England Conservatory (Ayano Ninoyama), Oberlin Conservatory (Amir Eldan), and Indiana University (Kurt Muroki). Additionally, he collaborated with members of the previous and current members of the Guarneri Quartet (Peter Wiley), the Juilliard Quartet (Joel Smirnoff), the Ying Quartet (Phillip & David Ying), and New York Philharmonic Concertmaster Frank Huang.
As a performer of contemporary music, he appeared in festivals such as the Gamper Festival of Contemporary Music, and New Music New Haven. As a vocal pianist, he appeared in Guildhall’s Songs and Six, and the Leeds Lieder Festival in the UK.
His teachers are Yong Hi Moon, Robert McDonald, Melvin Chen, Hung-Kuan Chen, and Ronan O’Hora, having studied at the Juilliard School, Yale School of Music, and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, all with full scholarships. He currently resides in Berlin, mentored by Kirill Gerstein at Hanns Eisler Hochshule für Musik Berlin as a candidate of the Konzertexamen degree, and as a DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) scholar. He is currently on a hiatus, serving his motherland in the South Korean military.