Born: Korea

The The Korean-born pianist, Choong-Mo Kang, is a graduate of Seoul National University. He received his master's degree from the San Francisco Conservatory, and his Artist's Diploma from Peabody Conservatory. While pursuing his DMA degree at Peabody Conservatory, he was appointed as a member of the Peabody piano faculty. He is the winner of Dong-A Competition in Korea, the Pacific International Piano Competition, the Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition, the Louise D. McMahan International Music Competition.

Choong-Mo Kang He has appeared throughout the USA. Japan and Korea as a soloist and recitalist. He has won plaudits from critics around the world for his acclaimed performances with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra as well as Korea's leading orchestras. His poetic intensity and confident simplicity of true talent captured the audiences in his performances at the Carnegie Hall, The Opera House in Sydney, London, and Oxford. His honorary performances in Moscow and St. Petersburg to commemorate the 10^th anniversary of Russia's revered pianist Tatiana Nikolayeva's death received an astounding reception.

Few undertakings are as stirring as pianist Choong-Mo Kang’s five-year endeavor to master and perform J.S. Bach's entire works for the keyboard. His startlingly original and audacious attempt is the musical embodiment of genius and undoubtedly an asset to western classical music. His utter absorption in the task of musical expression and his rethinking of Bach is an unquestionable icon of classical music. It is an emblem of uncompromising musical integrity, and none would dispute such designation. His recent recordings include Bach's Goldberg Variations BWV 988, Inventions and Sinfonias (BWV 772-801) and The Well-Tempered Clavier. The great pianist and conductor Leon Fleisher has claimed Kang's Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) as "A quite spectacular performance. A notable addition to the 'Goldberg' discography." His other recordings include some of Haydn piano sonatas and Mozart piano sonatas; Sergei Rachmaninov's four hands music with his wife Hae-Jeon Lee, S. Rachmaninov's 3^rd piano concerto with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and the Rhapsody on the theme of Paganini with the Czech National Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 1993, Choong-Mo Kang returned to his native Korea to serve as an eminent faculty member of the Korean National University of Arts where he has trained and cultivated young talented pianists who have won many international competitions. His former and present students have won prizes in such competitions like Van Cliburn, Gina Bachauer, Chopin Competitions in Tokyo and in Moscow, Porto, Juenesses Musicales, Epinal. He is also an artistic director of the Euro Music Festival and Academy in Leipzig as well as a faculty member of the Ishikawa Music Festival in Japan.

Source: Choong-Mo Kang Website
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (November 2006)

Choong-Mo Kang: Short Biography | Recordings of Instrumental Works

Links to other Sites

Choong-Mo Kang (Official Website)
Kang Choong-Mo's Music Story

San Francisco International Summer Music Festival-faculty