Choi wins international piano competition

Dr. Jiwon Choi accompanies a Northwest Jazz ensemble during a recent concert. (Photo by Todd Weddle/Northwest Missouri State University)

Dr. Jiwon Choi, a staff accompanist in Northwest Missouri State University’s Department of Fine and Performing Arts, recently earned first prize at the Puerto Rico International Collaborative Piano Competition.

Choi received a cash prize of $500 in the competition’s professional division, which involved her submitting four distinct recordings through the course of multiple rounds. Choi’s recordings included a collaborative performance of "Silent Autumn” by Japanese composer Akira Nishimura with Northwest Assistant Professor of Music Dr. Joseph Tomasso on oboe.

For the final round, Choi submitted recordings of “Típíco Tríptico Característico” by Andrés Levell, which was assigned to her by the competition committee, and Cécile Chaminade’s “Sérénade aux étoiles.”

Choi joined the Northwest faculty in 2016 and collaborates with the University’s choirs, vocal and instrumental studios, student pianists, music faculty and guest artists. Her performances as a soloist and a collaborative pianist have spanned venues throughout the United States, South Korea and Italy.

Choi has been invited to perform at Carnegie Hall as a first prize winner of the 2018 Golden Classical Music Awards International Competition. She also received first prize at the 2014 American Protégé International Competition of Romantic Music, marking her debut at Carnegie Hall, and she was selected as a finalist in the professional division of The American Prize national competition in the performing arts.

Choi holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in piano performance and pedagogy from the University of Kansas, where she was a graduate assistant and a faculty member at the University of Kansas Community Music School. She received her Master of Music in piano performance at Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University and her Bachelor of Music in piano performance at Dong-Ah University in South Korea.