About

Jooae Cheon has won numerous competitions since beginning her professional piano studies in South Korea. Her achievements include prizes in the Korea Herald Music Competition, the Music Education Newspaper Competition, the National Suri Music Competition, the Music Chunchu Competition, and the Eumyoun Competition. On the international stage, she was a winner of the Golden Classical Music Award and the Artist Presentation Society Competition, and a semi-finalist in the Washington International Competition.

In addition to gaining the opportunity to perform at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Dr. Cheon has performed in concerts and recitals at esteemed venues, including the Visual and Performing Arts Center in California, Yamaha Hall in Korea, the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, the University Commons Concert Hall and Kerrytown Concert House in Michigan, the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Illinois, and the Community Music School of Webster University in Missouri. Furthermore, she has participated in numerous masterclasses and festivals across the United States, Germany, Austria, and France, working with world-renowned pianists including Björn Lehmann, Rolf Plagge, Pascal Rogé, François Thinat, Billy Eidi, Dai-Uk Lee, Sharon Boaz, and Antonio Pompa-Baldi.

Dr. Cheon earned her Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Literature from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she studied under Professor Timothy Ehlen and completed a cognate in Piano Pedagogy. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from Seoul National University in Korea and dual Master of Music degrees in Piano Performance and Collaborative Piano from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Notably, she was the inaugural recipient of the Franz Liszt Fellowship, the highest piano award at UIUC. Her former teachers include Soo-Hee Auh, Professor Hie-Yon Choi, Professor Ian Hobson, and Professor Christopher Harding.

Beyond her academic pursuits, Dr. Cheon served as a piano instructor at the Illinois Community Music Academy. She is currently active as a solo and collaborative pianist in the Bay Area while dedicating herself to piano teaching.