Piano Faculty

New York‐born Christie Cho began her piano studies in Seoul, South Korea when she was 11 years old. Within two years she entered the famed Yewon School, the most prestigious middle school for the arts in Korea, and then continued her studies at Seoul Arts High School. Among the myriad awards Ms. Cho received during her student years in Korea were the first prize in the Eum-ag Chun-chu Competition, first prize in the Eum-ak Journal Competition, first prize in the Junior Chopin Competition, first prize in the Eumyeon Competition, and the Bronze Medal in the International Chopin Competition in Japan. 

She received her Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance at Seoul National University under Suk Ran Kwon and Hee Sung Joo and Master of Music degree and Performer Diploma at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music under Edward Auer. While pursuing the degree at Indiana University, she received the first prize in the Beethoven Competition at Edward Auer Summer Piano Workshop, first prize in the Chopin/Schumann Competition at EASPW, and first place in the Southern Illinois Young Artist Organization. She also won the concerto competition at Indiana University with a thrilling account of Beethoven’s “Emperor” concerto. After her performance with orchestra, music critic Peter Jacobi wrote “…Cho’s performance was such a pleasure to hear not only for how well she played but because it contained an appreciated freshness of approach that came from a rare combination: youth, innate talent, and a beyond‐her‐years artistic maturity and musical intelligence.” Also, after her performance at Steinway Hall in New York, renowned critic Harris Goldsmith had this to say: “Ms. Cho . . . has already conquered most of the treacheries of Beethoven’s Sonata No.28, Op. 101. More than just that, she presented the knotty work’s structure and musical ingredients with flowing line, crystalline textures and elegant tone in a cogent . . . interpretation.” Under Karen Taylor, she opened her eyes to piano pedagogy and worked with her at the Young Pianists Program and Piano Academy at Indiana University for a wide range of ages and levels of students.

Afterwards, she continued her career in New Jersey. She studied at Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts for her Doctor of Musical Arts degree under Daniel Epstein, and worked there as an accompanist and a teacher. She also continued her teaching while becoming a piano faculty at Park Conservatory. 

She recently finished her DMA degree with the dissertation “Brahms’s

Fantasies Op. 116 as a larger Rhapsody for Orchestra”, and became a piano faculty at Vienna Music Institute in California.