PIANO 2003 : Laureate
Korean pianist Minsoo Sohn moved to Boston to study with Russell Sherman and Wha Kyung Byun at the New England Conservatory where he graduated in 2004. In 2006 he became the First Laureate of the Honens International Piano Competition. Prior to that, he was top prize winner of international competitions such as the Busoni, Cleveland, Hilton Head, Rubinstein and Santander competitions.
Minsoo Sohn has toured extensively throughout North America, Europe and Israel at important venues including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Toronto's Glenn Gould Studio and St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, Boston's Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall and Gardner Museum, Calgary's Jack Singer Concert Hall, Arrata Opera Centre and Rozsa Centre, Ottawa's National Arts Centre, Chicago's Cultural Center, Cleveland's Severance Hall, San Francisco's Herbst Theatre, Spain's Palacio Festivalle de Cantabria, Israel's Tel Aviv Museum of Art and Mann Auditorium, Brussels' Palais des Beaux-Art and Theatre Royal de la Monnaie and Munich's Gasteig. He has also appeared at New Hampshire's Monadnock Festival, Spain's Santander Festival, Israel's Eilat Festival, Canada's Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, Colors of Music festival and Tuckamore Festival.
He has collaborated with leading conductors such as Gilbert Varga, Keith Lockhart, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jane Glover, Yoav Talmi, Mendi Rodan, Goerges Octors, Jahja Ling, David Hoose, Roy Goodman, Andrew Grams, Avner Biron and has performed with orchestras including Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, Calgary Philharmonic, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Israel Philharmonic, Jerusalem Camerata, Holland Symfonia, National Orchestra of Belgium, Cleveland Chamber Orchestra, New Hampshire Symphony and Tallahassee Symphony Orchestras among others.
An avid chamber musician, Minsoo Sohn has performed with the Aviv Quartet, Cecilia Quartet and Ysaÿe Quartet, Israel Camerata Woodwind Quintet and Gryphon Trio. In January 2010, he collaborated with Mark Morris Dance Group alongside Russell Sherman and the Orchestra of Emmanuel Music in the Boston premiere of Mozart Dances presented by Celebrity Series of Boston.
Minsoo Sohn's performance of Goldberg Variations has been broadcast numerous times on CBC - including live broadcast of the Glenn Gould 75th birthday commemoration concert - and across the United States on NPR's Performance Today. His debut recording, Liszt Transcriptions and Etudes, released in 2008, "brings an elegant intensity while tossing off fearsome technical challenges without breaking stride" wrote the Toronto Star. His recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations have been released in 2010 on the Honens label.