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The Korean-Japanese-American pianist, Seho Young, was brought to music at a young age by the conducting of his greatest musical inspiration, Seiji Ozawa. To pursue his musical interests, he studied piano, composition, and music theory at New England Conservatory Preparatory School and in the Pre-College Division of The Juilliard School. He received his Bachelor’s degree in computer science (2015-2019) and a certificate in musical performance from Princeton University, where he was the recipient of the Isidore and Helen Sacks Memorial Award, and studies piano with Francine Kay. Also, as a fellow in the prestigious partnership program of Oberlin Conservatory and the International Piano Academy Lake Como, Seho studied piano with founder William Naboré and performed in the organization's master classes and recitals at its American home at Oberlin. He has won top awards at the Five Towns Music and Arts Foundation Competition, Rosalyn Tureck International Bach Competition and Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition. His past mentors include Francine Kay, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Wha Kyung Byun, and William Naboré, and he has received master-classes from Stanislav Ioudenitch, Tamás Vásáry, Jeffrey Kahane, and Jon Kimura Parker. He has studied at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School and The Juilliard School Pre-College, and has participated in the Aspen Music Festival and School, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music School, and International Piano Academy Lake Como. He is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree at Yale University (2019-2021), under the tutelage of Boris Berman.
Seho Young has performed in venues across the USA, including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Millenium Stage at the Kennedy Center, Jordan Hall in Boston, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and has given recitals in Japan, Russia, Italy, Poland, and the Netherlands. He has appeared with the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Brockton Symphony Orchestra, Toruń Symphony Orchestra, the Princeton University Orchestra, and the Princeton University Glee Club. In 2021 he is scheduled to perform in the International Holland Music Sessions New Masters on Tour concert series, playing in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Philharmonic Hall in Bratislava, among other locations.
Other engagements as a pianist include productions of Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years and Pasek & Paul’s Dogfight, and music directing Quipfire! Improv Comedy, which often involved completely improvising full one-hour musicals. He has been part of several jazz and rock bands, has produced mixtapes, and has a sweet spot for Christmas songs and Disney ballads. Some of his favorite non-classical artists are Jacob Collier, Porter Robinson, and Simon & Garfunkel.
As a passionate composer and arranger, Seho Young has written music for ensembles, film scores, and musical theater productions, and arranged works for piano, chamber groups, bands, and acapella groups. His compositions have been performed in New England Conservatory’s Contemporary Music Festival. In 2012, he won first place in the Japan International Junior Classic Composition Competition, and in 2010 won an honorable mention for the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Award. During his undergrad he wrote and orchestrated songs for the Princeton Triangle Club, the oldest touring collegiate musical comedy troupe in the USA, where he was also the conductor of the pit orchestra. He also enjoys playing chamber music with Opus 21, Princeton’s premier chamber music ensemble, and in 2016, was appointed Associate Conductor of the Princeton Chamber Orchestra, a student-led ensemble that performs a wide range of music from smaller works to concerti. He is planning several ambitious projects for the near future, including arranging Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story for solo piano. He has studied composition with Alla Elana Cohen and counterpoint and improvisation with Steve Mackey.
Seho Young has worked at robotics startups in the Boston area, focusing on developing software for autonomous vehicle navigation, and enjoys creating websites and mobile apps as a hobby. Seho is an avid ultimate frisbee player, and has played with Princeton Clockwork, Yale Süperfly, and club teams in Massachusetts. In his free time he loves finding places to drink coffee and beer. |
