With an innate musicality and overwhelming talent, Seong-Jin Cho has established himself worldwide as one of the leading pianists of his generation and most distinctive artists on the current music scene. His thoughtful and poetic, assertive and tender, virtuosic and colourful playing can combine panache with purity and is driven by an impressive natural sense of balance.
Seong-Jin Cho was brought to the world’s attention in 2015 when he won First Prize at the Chopin International Competition in Warsaw, and his career has rapidly ascended since. In January 2016, he signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon and, in 2023, Cho was awarded the prestigious Samsung Ho-Am Prize in the Arts in recognition of his exceptional contributions to the world of classical music. An artist high in demand, Cho works with the worldʼs most prestigious orchestras including Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, New York Philharmonic and The Philadelphia Orchestra. Conductors he regularly collaborates with include Myung-Whun Chung, Gustavo Dudamel, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Andris Nelsons, Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Simon Rattle, Santtu Matias Rouvali and Esa-Pekka Salonen. In the 2024/25 season, Cho held the position of Artist in Residence with the Berliner Philharmoniker.
He began the 2025/2026 season with the Czech Philharmonic, with whom he also performed at the Smetana’s Litomyšl Festival under the baton of David Robertson. During this season, Seong-Jin Cho is also collaborated on various projects with the London Symphony Orchestra, including several concert performances, among them the world premiere of a new Piano Concerto by Donghoon Shin, written especially for him. As a soloist, he can also be heard in his numerous recitals, performing on the world’s most famous stages. During the 2025/2026 season, he will perform at Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Musikverein in Vienna, and will also tour Japan.
Seong-Jin Cho’s recordings have garnered impressive critical acclaim worldwide. The most recent one celebrates the 150th anniversary of Maurice Ravel’s birth and features the composer’s complete solo piano works and concertos performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons. He was awarded the Opus Klassik Award in the Instrumentalist of the Year 2025 category for his solo piano works. In addition to orchestral recordings, he also records solo works, the most recent of which is entitled The Handel Project and was released in early 2023.
Born in 1994 in Seoul, Seong-Jin Cho started learning the piano at the age of six and gave his first public recital aged 11. In 2009, he became the youngest-ever winner of Japan’s Hamamatsu International Piano Competition. In 2011, he won Third Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow at the age of 17. From 2012–2015 he studied with Michel Béroff at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. Seong-Jin Cho is now based in Berlin.
