Pianist HaeSun Paik has been hailed as a “sensitive and thinking musician with stunning virtuosity” (Los Angeles Times), and a “big and individual personality” (New York Times), whose performances are “a rare example of technique actually serving both idea and feeling, head and heart” (Musical America). Having won top prizes at international piano competitions including the Queen Elisabeth, Leeds, William Kapell, and the Tchaikovsky, Ms. Paik has performed around the world in solo recitals, concerti with orchestra, and as a chamber musician. HaeSun Paik has appeared as a soloist under the baton of such conductors as Mikhail Pletnev, Sir Simon Rattle, Vassily Sinaisky, Dmitri Kitaenko, Stanislav Skrovaczewski, and Myung Whun Chung. She has performed with the Boston, National, London, KBS, NHK, and City of Birmingham Symphonies; the Munich, Radio France, Tokyo, Warsaw, and Moscow Philharmonics; and the Russian National Orchestra among others. Ms. Paik has frequently performed in recital venues throughout the U.S. including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center and Jordan Hall in Boston, as well as in major concert halls around the globe. She has recently performed all five Beethoven Concerti and the Triple Concerto with the New York Classical Players, and she has recorded the complete works by Beethoven for cello and piano with Laurence Lesser which has been released by Bridge Records. Her debut and subsequent solo recordings can be heard on the EMI label.  

One of the most sought after pedagogical influences n Korea, Ms. Paik was the youngest pianist of her generation to be appointed as a music professor at Seoul National University. Recently, she joined the piano faculty at the New England Conservatory after teaching at Cleveland Institute of Music for several years. She is also an artist-in-residence at the Daegu Catholic University and served as the Artistic Director of the Busan Music Festival in Korea. She currently teaches at many summer festivals including Morningside Music Bridge and PianoSummer at New Paltz. She gives master classes at institutions worldwide and has served as a juror in many international competitions including the Bösendorfer and Yamaha USASU, the Cleveland, the Gina Bachauer, the Hilton Head, the Honens, and the Seoul (Dong-A) international piano competitions. Ms. Paik is a recipient of the Korean National Academy of the Arts’ 2019 Music award, the nation’s highest honor for Korean musicians. Ms. Paik graduated from the New England Conservatory and Walnut Hill School under the guidance of Russell Sherman and Wha Kyung Byun. Her artistic development was further influenced by her studies at the International Piano Foundation in Lake Como.