SEONG-JIN CHO

Seong-Jin Cho has established himself globally as one of the most outstanding pianists of his generation and one of the most distinctive personalities on the current music scene. Gifted with innate musicality, great mastery, and poetic sensibility, his playing—reflective and poetic, virtuosic and rich in colours—combines brilliance with purity and stands with an impressive natural sense of balance. He is acclaimed worldwide for the meaningful magic and insightful clarity of his performances.

Cho first gained international attention in 2015 by winning First Prize at the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, and since then, his career has rapidly advanced. In early 2016, he signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. In 2023, he was awarded the prestigious Samsung Ho-Am Prize for the Arts in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to classical music. A highly sought-after artist, he collaborates with some of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Among the conductors he regularly works with are Myung-Whun Chung, Gustavo Dudamel, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Antonio Pappano, Sir Simon Rattle, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Lahav Shani. In the 2024/25 season, he was artist-in-residence with the Berlin Philharmonic.

In the 2025/26 season, Seong-Jin Cho is the London Symphony Orchestra’s Artist Portrait. This collaboration features various projects throughout the season, including concert performances such as the world premiere of a new piano concerto by Donghoon Shin, written specifically for him. The project also involves performances on a European tour, as well as chamber music concerts and recitals at LSO St Luke’s.

Among other notable engagements, he returns to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conducted by Manfred Honeck, with performances in Pittsburgh and at Carnegie Hall; to the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andris Nelsons; and to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel. He also embarks on several international tours, including his highly anticipated return to the Czech Philharmonic with Semyon Bychkov in Taiwan and Japan, and to the Munich Philharmonic, alongside Lahav Shani, in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. In the autumn of 2025, she will also perform throughout Europe with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by Andris Nelsons.

Highly sought after as a recitalist, Cho performs in some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls, including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, the KKL in Lucerne, the Sala Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Rudolfinum in Prague, the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the La Roque d’Anthéron International Piano Festival, Carnegie Hall, and the Verbier Festival. During the 2024/25 season, he honoured the 150th anniversary of Maurice Ravel’s birth by performing his complete solo piano works at venues such as the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Barbican Centre in London, the Celebrity Series at Symphony Hall in Boston, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and Carnegie Hall. Next season, he will return to Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, as well as the Musikverein in Vienna and the Tanglewood Festival. He will also tour Japan.

His latest recording for Deutsche Grammophon, which celebrates the 150th anniversary of Maurice Ravel’s birth, features the composer’s complete solo piano works and piano concertos, performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons. This project marks Cho’s first exploration of the entire body of work by a single composer, and the solo piano pieces received the 2025 Opus Klassik Prize in the Instrumentalist of the Year category. His previous recordings include the solo album The Handel Project (2023) and, in 2021, Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Scherzi with the London Symphony Orchestra and Gianandrea Noseda. With the same orchestra and conductor, he had previously recorded his debut album, featuring Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and the four ballades. His solo album The Wanderer (2020) features Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy, Berg’s Piano Sonata Op. 1, and Liszt’s Piano Sonata in B minor. In 2017, he also released a recital dedicated to Debussy, followed in 2018 by an album of Mozart works with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. All these recordings have been issued with the renowned yellow label and have garnered widespread international critical acclaim.

Born in 1994 in Seoul, Seong-Jin Cho began studying piano at the age of six and gave his first public recital at eleven. In 2009, he became the youngest winner in the history of the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition (Japan). In 2011, he won third prize at the Moscow International Tchaikovsky Competition at just seventeen years old. Between 2012 and 2015, he studied with Michel Béroff at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris. He currently resides in Berlin.