Eun Suk Cha

Eun Suk Cha, a prodigious and passionate pianist from South Korea, has concertized in renowned venues across the United States, Europe, and South Korea. She has performed for the Winners’ Recital of the National Artists Competition at Lincoln Center, New York City; Kresge Theater at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh; Jessen and Bates Halls at the University of Texas at Austin, TX, Finn Center Tateuchi Hall, CA; Stoughton Opera House, WI, USA; Sala dei Notari, Perugia, Italy, at the Music Fest Perugia; Wiener Saal, Salzburg, Austria, for the Akademie Konzert at the Mozarteum International Summer Academy; Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, and Universal Arts Center, and Yurim Art Hall, Seoul, South Korea.

A versatile artist with theoretical and technical expertise in classical music, Eun Suk has a broad repertoire including solo, concerto, and chamber works ranging from Baroque to 20^th-century. Her perspectives on 20^th-century music, as presented in her thesis “Charles Ives’ Paradoxes in the Three-page Sonata," earned high praises from internationally acclaimed music theorists, such as Professors Elliott Antokoletz and B. Glenn Chandler. She has performed concerti with the Parlarte Symphonic Orchestra, Perugia, Italy, conducted by Dan Wen Wei; Yonsei University Orchestra, Seoul, Korea, conducted by Sang-Jin Kim, as a Concerto Competition winner; and Sunhwa Arts School Orchestra, Seoul, Korea, conducted by Kwang Yu, also as a Concerto Competition winner. Eun Suk has won a number of notable prizes at various national and international competitions, including the Second Prize in the National Artists Competition, NY, United States; the First Prize in the Sixth Competition of the Piano Society of Korea, Korea; the Second Prize in the Brahms Competition, Korea; the Third Prize in the Sunhwa Chamber Music Competition, Korea; the Third Prize in the Paderewski International Piano Competition, CT, United States. In addition, she has won several scholarships from the International Keyboard Institute & Festival, New York City; the Malinin Fedkina Internationale Sommer-Meisterklasse, Germany; Carnegie Mellon University; and the Society of Lee Sumie, Korea. Notably, she was an honorable recipient of A David Renner Endowed Presidential Academic Excellence Scholarships.

Eun Suk was born in Seoul, Korea, and started honing her performance skills at Sunwha Arts School in 2003. Her formative studies took place at Yonsei University, Korea, where she obtained a Bachelor of Music degree in 2008 and a Master of Music degree in 2011 under Prof. Keum-Bong Kim. After she moved to the United States, she studied piano with Professors Sergey Schepkin and Enrique Graf for her Master of Music degree at Carnegie Mellon University, where she also took Pedagogy Skills courses with Prof. Hanna W. Li. Thereafter, she studied with Professors David A. Renner and Andrew A. Brownell at the University of Texas at Austin for a Doctor of Musical Arts degree until 2017. During her doctoral training, Eun Suk achieved profound insights and understanding of the 20^th-century musicology under the mentorship of Prof. Elliott Antokoletz.