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Kun Woo PAIK |
Kun Woo Paik is considered one of the most important pianists of his generation.
Le Figaro
“True, authentic virtuoso!”
New York Times
“He can draw enough thunder to raise the phantom of legends.”
Fanfare
“Is Paik a “new Busoni”?
Brigitte Massin in Le Matin
“to play Liszt is for Kun Woo Paik a mystical journey, a way of
bringing his audience to the very heart of this work, to feel its fundamental
pulse…”
Kun Woo Paik is considered one
of the most important pianists of his generation.
Born in Seoul, Kun Woo Paik’s first concert was at the age of 10
performing the Grieg Piano Concerto with the Korean National Orchestra.
In the following years he has made his name performing several premieres
such as Mussorgshy’s Pictures at an exhibition.
At the age of 15, Kun Woo Paik moved to New York to study with Rosina Lhevinne at the Julliard School and with Ilona Kabos in London. He also studied in Italy with Guido Agosti and Willhelm Kempff. Mr. Paik is the winner of the Naumburg and Gold Medalist at the Busoni International Piano Competitions, and his international career took off following his first New York appearance, in which he performed complete piano works by Maurice Ravel at the Lincoln Center, and his orchestral debut at the Carnegie Hall.
In 1974 Paik made his European debuts with 3 consecutive recitals at the Wigmore Hall in London, following in 1975 by a recital at the Berlin Philharmonie. Since then he has closely collaborated with conductors such as Mariss Jansons, Sir Neville Marriner, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Jiri Belohlavek, Mikhail Pletnev, Dmitri Kitaenko, James Conlon, John Nelson and Eliahu Inbal and performed with orchestras such as the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, London Symphony, BBC Symphony (Last Night of the Proms 1987), Orchestre de Paris, Berlin Symphony, Hungarian National, Oslo Philharmonic, Rotterdam, Rai Italia, Warsaw Philharmonic and English Chamber Orchestra. He is also a regular guest artist of Music festivals such as Berlin Festwochen, Aix-en-Provence, La Roque d’Antheron, Ravinia, “Mostly Mozart”, Colmar, Montreux, Dubrovnik, Aldeburgh and Moscow Easter Festival.
He was the first Korean artist
to be officially invited by the Chinese government in October 2000. The
year 2003 was marked by the fiftieth anniversary of Prokofiev’s
death. Paik has performed his concerti in Berlin and Milano, Budapest,
Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul, Nice and Seville. He has been invited to perform
the complete Rachmaninov Concerti with the China Philharmonic/Long Yu
in November 2004 and this was followed by an extensive tour of Asia and
an invitation from Mr.Pendereck to perform his new piano concerto under
M°Penderecki’s baton.
Forthcoming performances include,
2007/08 : opening of the China Philharmonic in Beijing and of the Canton
Philharmonic seasons in Canton, Orchestre San Carlo di Napoli, London
Philharmonic (M° Jurowski), Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra (M°
Wit), Orchestra Verdi di Milano, etc.
2008/09 : Kun Woo Paik is re-invited by Orchestre de Paris in Bartok concerto
N°2, he gives Rachmaninov complete concertos in two evenings in Saint
Petersbourg with the Saint Petersburg Academic Symphony Orchestra under
M°Dimitriev, is invited by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo
in the new version of M° Penderecki piano concerto, and will play
Messiaen 20 Regards sur l’Enfant Jésus in particular in Roma…
His repertoire is extensive from Bach to Stockenhausen, from Busoni to Scriabin, from Liszt to Messiaen. He created an important musical event with a series of 6 recitals in London and Paris dedicated to works for solo by Franz Liszt: “to play Liszt is for Kun Woo Paik is a mystical journey, a way of bringing his audience to the very heart of this work, to feel its fundamental pulse…” (Brigitte Massin in Le Matin). In the year 2000, he gave the Asian Premier of Busoni piano concerto in Seoul.
Kun Woo Paik’s numerous recordings include Scriabin, Liszt, complete works for solo piano by Mussorgsky, complete Rachmaninov’s Piano Concertos and “Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini” (under Vladimir Fedosseev for BMG.) His complete Prokofiev Piano Concerti recording received both the “Diapason d’or” of the year in 1993 and “Nouvelle Academie du disque” Award in France.
As an exclusive Decca artist, to celebrate J.S Bach’s year in 2000, he recorded Busoni’s Transcriptions of Bach’s organ works followed by an album of Faure’s Piano works which won all the major prizes in France. He recently released the complete works for piano and orchestra by Chopin with Anton Wit and the Warsaw Philharmonic, and most recently the Complete Beethoven piano sonatas.
Kun Woo Paik lives in Paris
and is the Artistic Director of the Emerald Coast Music Festival in Dinard
(France) and was made the “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et
des Lettres” by the French Government in 2000.