A native of California, RUFUS CHOI has performed in such major venues as the Los Angeles Music Center, the Pasadena Ambassador Auditorium, the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, Lincoln Center in New York and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Mr. Choi frequently performs in Germany, The Netherlands, and in the Far East with performances at the Seoul Arts Center, the Sejong Hall in Korea, and at the National Concert Hall in Taipei. He has also performed at prestigious music festivals such as the Salzburg in Austria, the Tours in France, the Oxford Philomusica in England and the Savannah Onstage in Georgia.
Mr. Choi became a Yamaha Artist in 2005.
RUFUS CHOI, young California pianist, has always felt his American birth and Korean heritage imparted an international aura and underlying wanderlust to a musical career which has found him performing in all parts of the world from childhood to the present. Some of the countries which come to mind are, of course, America (as Yamaha Artist and guest artist on ABC, CBS, KKGO, and WQXR television and radio broadcasts and in solo appearances at notable venues, including the Los Angeles Music Center and AMRON solo recital at Zipper Hall, New York Lincoln Center and Weill Recital Hall solo program at Carnegie Hall, Pasadena Ambassador Auditorium, San Francisco Herbst Theatre, Savanah Onstage in Georgia and as a major prize winner in the International Joanna Hodges Piano Competition in Palm Desert, and most recently at the Louisiana International Piano Competition in Alexandria, including a solo performance with the Rapides Symphony Orchestra); Austria (Salzburg Festival); Cyprus (Nicosia Concerts and Master Classes); England (Oxford Philomusica performances); France (Tours Festival); Germany (Goettingen Symphony Orchestra concert, as soloist with Martin Braus conducting, in a recent palace concert at the world famous Herrenhausen Gardens); Italy (Rovere D'oro International Piano Competition major prize winner), Korea (performance at Seoul Arts Center and at Sejong Hall, soloist with the Puchon Philharmonic, and major prize winner in the Han Romanson International Piano Competition); Netherlands (Utrecht International Liszt Piano Competition and performances); Russia (Moscow International Tschaikowsky Piano Competition and Diploma Awards in 1998 and 2002); Taiwan (Tapei Music Festival at the National Concert Hall and major prize winner in the Taiwan International Piano Competition and soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra). This truly international artist is a graduate of The Juilliard School (BM, MM) and the Soloklassen at the Musik Hochschule in Hannover, Germany. His teachers include Vladimir Krainev, Konstantin Sirounian, Bruce Sutherland, and Oxana Yablonskaya.
Some future musical ventures include recording in Russia for Classical Records. In addition, Mr.Choi will perform at the St Petersburg Philharmonic Great Hall as soloist with the St Petersburg Philharmonic orchestra and on tour with the Russian Chamber Philharmonic orchestra in Germany during the 2005-06 Concert Season. Also, he has been invited to appear in California in solo recital at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts on the Jose Iturbi Gold Medal Series next season.
