Seong-Jin Cho

Cho signed with Deutsche Grammophon in 2016, under which he has released seven studio albums and one live recording. He was the Artist in Residence of the Berlin Philharmonic for the 2024–25 season.

• Name — Seong-Jin Cho • Instrument — Piano • Born — 28 May 1994 • Birthplace — Seoul, South Korea • Occupation — Musician • Years Active — 2006–present • Genre — Classical • Awards — 1st Prize, International Chopin Piano Competition (2015) • Label — Deutsche Grammophon • Website — https: seongjin-cho.com/

Cho was born in Seoul, South Korea, the only child of non-musical parents; his father was an engineer. At six years old, he began studying both the piano and the violin. Though he appeared to have more natural facility on the latter, he developed a stronger liking for the piano, and gave his first public piano recital at age eleven. After being identified through a musical prodigy development program at the Seoul Arts Center, he began studying under Sook-Ryeon Park at Sunchon National University and Soo-Jung Shin at Seoul National University. He attended the Yewon School, a private middle school for art education, during which he won First Prize at both the Moscow International Fryderyk Chopin Competition for Young Pianists (2008) and the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition (2009). Cho then attended Seoul Arts High School for two years, during which he placed third at the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition and began performing regularly with Myung-whun Chung and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. Cho moved to Paris in 2012 to study at the Conservatoire de Paris with Michel Béroff. While there, Cho placed third at the 2014 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition and first prize at the 2015 International Chopin Piano Competition, becoming the first Korean to receive that distinction.

Cho regularly tours the world to perform with orchestras or in solo. He generally performs more than 100 concert yearly with a schedule pre-booked three years ahead. As a soloist, Cho frequently works with various European orchestras - including the Berliner Philharmoniker, Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra - and North American orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia and Cleveland. He has collaborated with conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Simon Rattle, Kirill Petrenko, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Semyon Bychkov, Jakub Hrůša, Myung-Whun Chung, Gustavo Dudamel, Valery Gergiev, Vasily Petrenko, Mikhail Pletnev, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Yuri Temirkanov, Gianandrea Noseda, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Andris Nelsons. Cho has performed at various venues, notably the Stern Auditorium of Carnegie Hall, Berliner Philharmonie, Musikverein, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Rudolfinum in Prague, Prinzregententheater München, Wiener Konzerthaus, Wigmore Hall in London and Suntory Hall Tokyo. He has also been invited to numerous music festivals such as the Verbier Festival, Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Rheingau Musik Festival, BBC Proms, Tanglewood Festival, Salzburg Festival, Edinburg Festival and Lucerne Festival. In 2017, Cho made his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Simon Rattle to perform Ravel' s Piano Concerto in G. In 2021, Cho gave the world premiere of Allegro in D, a newly found Mozart work. In 2022, Cho debuted with the Vienna Philharmonic, as a replacement for Denis Matsuev, with Yannick Neget-Seguin. Cho performed the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2, and in October 2024 collaborated with the orchestra on performances of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3. Cho was 2024–25 Artist in Residence of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra performing the Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 1, Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 and chamber music with members of the orchestra. The London Symphony Orchestra selected Cho as Artist Portrait of the 2025/26 season., featuring him in a series of concerts and activities with the LSO including Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2, Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2, chamber music and recitals.

After the Chopin Competition in 2011, Cho met Krystian Zimerman in Tokyo who toured him around the city. Zimerman has provided career advice to Cho since then. Cho's first classical album that he purchased as a child was Zimerman's recording of Chopin's Four Ballades. Cho idolised Radu Lupu, as he revealed in an interview, and when they met in Paris during a dinner party, they became close and Cho was invited to Lupu's house in Lausanne several times. Cho moved to Berlin in 2018 after briefly visiting the city for business. He was attracted by the city's cosmopolitan culture and many beautiful parks in the city. Cho considers music more of a passion than a job and enjoys performing while he tries to expand his repertoire by adding at least two new piano concertos and a one-year recital program worth of solo piano pieces each year. Since he was in the 7th grade, Cho has really admired Mahler's symphonies.