Kun-woo Paik (born May 10, 1946) is a South Korean pianist.
Early life
Kun Woo Paik was born in Seoul and gave his first concert, aged 10, with the Korean National Orchestra (Grieg piano concerto). In the following years he performed many important works in Korea, including several premieres such as Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Later he studied in New York (Juilliard School), London, and in Italy with Rosina Lhevinne, Ivona Kabos, Guido Agosti and Wilhelm Kempff. Kun Woo Paik is also a laureate of the Naumburg and Busoni International Piano Competitions.
Career
Over the years Kun Woo Paik has performed recitals in major musical centres such as the Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall and Berlin Philharmonie. He has also performed with such orchestras as the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Last Night of the Proms 1987), Pittsburgh Symphony, Russian National Orchestra, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Rai Torino, Warsaw Philharmonic, English Chamber Orchestra and Polish National Radio Orchestra, with such conductors as Mariss Jansons, Sir Neville Marriner, Lawrence Foster, Mikhail Pletnev, Dmitri Kitaenko, James Conlon, John Nelson and Eliahu Inbal. Kun Woo Paik is also a regular guest artist at major music festivals such as the Berlin Festwochen, Aix-en-Provence, La Roque d’Antheron, Colmar, Spoleto, Aldeburgh, "Mostly Mozart" and Ravinia Festivals, and has toured extensively in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Italy.
His repertoire is very varied and comprises such rare works as Busoni’s piano concerto, Fauré’s Fantasy for piano and orchestra and Liszt’s Fantasy on themes from Berlioz’s Lelio. Kun Woo Paik also performs a wide selection of transcriptions by Liszt and Berlioz and is the dedicatee of Suk-Hi Kang’s piano concerto.
Mr Paik has recorded the complete Prokofiev piano concertos with Antoni Wit/Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra for RCA (Diapason d’or in 1993), the complete Rachmaninov’s piano with Wladimir Fedosseyev / Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra (BMG), as well as several solo CDs of Scriabin, Liszt, Mussorgsky, Rachmaninov, Mendelssohn piano music. In 2000 he signed an exclusive recording contract with Decca Classics. The first release was Bach/Busoni, a much acclaimed CD of transcriptions of Bach’s organ works. In February 2002 Decca will release a 2nd recital dedicated to Fauré.
Kun Woo Paik lives in Paris, is the Artistic Director of the Emerald Coast Music Festival in Dinard (France) and was made "Chevalier de l’ordre des arts et des lettres" by the French Government in 2000. In September 2000 he was the first Korean artist to be officially invited to perform in China.
Discography
- 2008 - L'intégrale des 32 Sonates pour piano de Lv BEETHOVEN par Kun Woo Paik
est parue en Corée.
- 2007 - Kun Woo Paik plays BEETHOVEN - Sonates 27 à 32 - DECCA
- 2006- Kun Woo Paik plays BEETHOVEN - Sonates 1 à 15 - DECCA
- 2005 - Kun Woo Paik plays BEETHOVEN - Sonates 16 à 26 - DECCA
- 2003 Chopin: intégrale des Oeuvres pour piano et orchestre avec l'orchestre philarmonique de Varsovie
direction Antoni Wit - Complete Works For Piano & Orchestra - DECCA
- 2002 Gabriel Fauré - l'oeuvre pour piano - Diapason d'or - DECCA
- 2001 Reynaldo Hahn oeuvres pour deux pianos avec Hüseyin Sermet - NAÏVE
- 2000 Bach, J.S. transcr. Busoni: (transcriptions pr piano) - Toccata BW564 10 chorales et préludes
Chaconne BW1004 - DECCA
- 2000 Oeuvres pour piano de Liszt, Debussy, Poulenc et Satie (Double CD) - EMI MUSIC
- 1998 Rachmaninov Complete Works for Piano and Orchestra
- 1998 Mendelssohn Songs Without Words
- 1996 Kun Woo Paik Plays Scriabin
- 1994 Prokofiev Complete Piano Concertos
- 1993 Schmitt trois rhapsodies pour deux pianos opus 53 - Kun Woo Paik avec Huseyin Sermet - AUVIDIS
- 1992 Mendelssohn Romances sans paroles - diapason d'or - DANTE
- 1992 Rachmaninov 4 concertos pour piano - rhapsodie sur un thème de paganini - RCA
- 1992 Rachmaninov sonates pr piano 1et 2 - diapason d'or - DANTE
- 1992 Prokofiev Piano Sonata No. 6-8 - diapason d'or - DANTE
- 1992 Ravel : Complete Piano Works
- 1992 Scriabine Sonate-fantaisie no2 opus 24 - 24 préludes opus - 11 poèmes sataniques - 3 études - sonate no10 - diapason d'or - DANTE
- 1992 Scriabine Sonate n0 6 opus 62 sonate n0 9 opus 65 (messe noire) six impromptus vers la flamme - diapason d'or - DANTE
- 1991 Prokofiev 5 concertos pour piano et orchestre
orchestre national de la radio polonaise - disque d'or - prix nouvelle académie du disque - 2CD NAXOS
- 1991 Liszt Mephisto wallz, au lac de Wallendstadt, au bord d'une source, variations sur B.A.C.H, liberstraum.3, rhapsodie hongroise.12 jeux d'eau à la villa d'este ,bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude - Récital de musique française ( Poulenc, Debussy, Satie )
2 CD - VIRGIN
- 1991 Ravel L' Oeuvre pour piano solo - diapason d'or - DANTE
Awards
- 1967 Winner of Naumberg International Piano Competition
- 1969 Winner of Busoni International Piano Competition
- 1992 Golden Diapason Prize (Alexander Scriabin Album)
- 1993 Golden Diapason Prize (Sergei Prokofiev Album)
References
- Kun-Woo Paik's Official site
- Decca Music Group Website
- International Who's Who in Music & International Directory (13th Edition, 1992/93)
External links
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