Rufus Choi is a Korean-American pianist and Steinway Artist whose performances have captivated sold-out audiences around the world.
He has appeared at major international venues including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, the Salzburg Festival, Moscow’s Great Hall at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Seoul Arts Center, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Pasadena Ambassador Auditorium, Herrenhausen Gardens, National Hall in Taipei, Sejong Hall, and Zipper Hall at the Colburn School. His performances in South Korea at the Busan Cultural Center and Hoam Art Hall have also been met with great acclaim.
Mr. Choi is the First Prize ($50,000) and People’s Choice Award ($10,000) winner of the inaugural 2007 José Iturbi International Music Competition. He is a laureate of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, having received diplomas in both 1998 and 2002, and is a top prizewinner of numerous other international competitions.
A graduate of The Juilliard School (BM, MM), where he studied with Oxana Yablonskaya, Mr. Choi also earned the prestigious Soloklassen Diploma from the Hochschule für Musik in Hannover under Vladimir Krainev.
In addition to his performing career, he is deeply committed to education. His students have won top prizes in major national and international competitions—including the e-Piano Junior, Gina Bachauer Junior, National Chopin Competition, Arthur Fraser Competition, MTNA, and MTAC—and have gone on to study at leading conservatories such as Juilliard, New England Conservatory, and Manhattan School of Music.
In 2023, Mr. Choi founded the Salit Conservatory of Music in Burbank, California, expanding his mission to inspire and guide pianists to “listen between the notes.”