Kun-Woo Paik

The veteran Korean-born pianist Kun-Woo Paik was among the first musicians in his country to make a successful career in the West. That career is international, encompassing training and performances in South Korea, the U.S., where he was partly trained, and Europe, where he is a longtime resident (in France). Moreover, he often performs little-known music. Paik has a substantial recording catalog stretching back to the LP era, including two volumes of Mozart's piano music issued on the Deutsche Grammophon label in 2024. Paik was born in Seoul on March 10, 1946. His name has also appeared as Kun Woo Paik or Paik Kun Woo; Paik is his family name. By age ten, he had given his first concert, playing Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 with the Korean National Orchestra. By his late teens, he had a well-established concert career in South Korea but felt the need for further training; he completed a degree at the High School of Performing Arts in New York and enrolled at the Juilliard School. He graduated in 1971, won the Naumburg Piano Competition in New York that year, and went on for further studies in Italy with Rosina Lhévinne, a major influence, and Wilhelm Kempff. In 1974, Paik gave a series of three recitals at Wigmore Hall in London and settled in Paris. An early Paik recording of works by Ravel with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony appeared on the Pro-Arte Sinfonia label in 1983. The Warner Classics label has issued a collection of his work from this period, Kun Woo Paik: The Early Recordings. Paik has appeared with top orchestras in various countries, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic in Russia, and the Warsaw Philharmonic, with which he recorded Chopin's complete works for piano and orchestra in 2003. He is a frequent guest at festivals, including the Berlin Festwochen, the Aix-en-Provence Festival in France, and the Mostly Mozart and Ravinia Festivals in the U.S. Paik's international touring includes appearances in Australia and New Zealand, and in 2000, he became the first Korean artist invited to perform in China. His repertory includes unusual items such as Ferruccio Busoni's piano concerto and Fauré's Fantasy for piano and orchestra, as well as a piano concerto he commissioned by Korean composer Suk-Hi Kang. Paik has remained active into old age. He has recorded for major labels, including Decca, Naïve, and Deutsche Grammophon, where he issued the albums Mozart: Piano Works 1 and Mozart: Piano Works 2 in 2024. Paik was designated a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in 2000. From 1993 to 2014, he was artistic director of the Emerald Coast Music Festival in Dinard, France. ~ James Manheim, Rovi