08/10/2014
Kuwait Chamber Philharmonia presents Piano Recital by
Sonja Park - 'A Pianist Who Moves People'
Sonja Park bio
Having been born and educated (Degree in Music Pedagogy and Pedagogy with distinction) in Seoul, South Korea Sonja Park was an essentially self-taught pianist, though in her early age she toured the world as a pianist of the Korean National Men's Choir. In 1999 she continued her studies at the University of Music and Drama in Vienna as a concert pianist with Prof. Alexander Jenner. In the following few years she received many awards and scholarships: Gonda Weiner award for young talents, Karajan Foundation, Gesellschaft für Musikfreunde, Ministry for Transport and Science, Sobotka-Janicek Foundation, etc. In 2000, Miss Park was honored by the University of Vienna as one of the greatest talents. She is a prizewinner of international piano/ chambermusic competitions such as Brahms International competition(Austria) , Karajan Society scholarship competition( Austria ),Premio Rodolf Caporalli(Italy), Premio Vittorio Gui (Florence,italy), etc. She has attended master classes with such musicians as Boris Bloch, Dmitri Bashkirov, Klaus Hellwig and Andrzej Jasinski (President of Chopin Competition) Jasinski spoke of Sonja: "...she is a unique talent, when she plays, one can forget everything, all one feels is love for music, she leads you to another world. She has everything that a Musician needs, she is a born Artist."
Sonja Park regularly gives concerts as soloist and chamber musician (partner of Paul Badura Skoda, Dora Schwarzberg, Mark Drobinsky, Benoit Fromanger, etc.) at the Austrian Radio ORF, Hungarian Radio, RAI UNO, Slovak Radio, NHK Television (with maestro Philip Entremont) in countries such as Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, Tunisia, Slovakia, Hungary, France, England, Japan, Germany and Turkey with orchestras such as North Hungarian Symphony Orchestra, RSO Bratislava, National Chamber Orchestra Zilina. In the past seasons Miss Park appeared in concert halls worldwide including Konzerthaus Wien, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Wigmore Hall London, Teatro del Maggio Florence. Last year Sonja made her Russian Debut at the prestigious Andrey Sakharov International Art Festival. She regularly appears in Qatar's newly established "Friends of American School Chamber Music Series sponsored by the International Bank of Qatar". Sonja currently lives in Doha, performing, teaching and raising a little daughter Mia with her husband Dmitri, member of Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra.
