Full Biography
Hailed by The Philadelphia Inquirer as “a major talent with a robust tone” and “the rising star we have to watch” (Gramophone Korea), flutist Jasmine Choi is an active soloist, chamber musician, and full-time orchestral musician. Critically acclaimed on international stages for her rich tone, technical brilliance, superb musicianship, and charismatic stage presence, at the age of 22 she was appointed Associate Principal Flute of the Cincinnati Symphony, under the direction of Paavo Jarvi, becoming the first Korean woodwind player to hold a post with a major orchestra in the United States. She has toured with the Symphony to Europe and Japan, as well as to major cities in the U.S. Nominated by Symphony magazine in 2006, 2007, and 2008 as one of “America’s Emerging Artists,” Ms. Choi was a winner of Astral Artists’ 2004 National Auditions.
Recent performances include solo recitals in London’s Wigmore Hall, Vienna’s Konzerthaus Schubert Saal, Philadelphia’s Academy of Music, and Kumho Art Hall in Seoul. Ms. Choi has also performed as soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Salzburg Mozarteum, Czech Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, and the KBS (Korean Broadcast Symphony), among many others. She has also appeared as soloist in Vienna’s Musikverein Golden Hall and Konzerthaus Mozart Saal, both Dvorák and Smetana Halls in Prague, Disney Hall in Los Angeles, and Verizon Hall in Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, and has performed concertos of Devienne, Ibert, Jolivet, Liebermann, Mercadante, Mozart, Reinecke, and Vivaldi, as well as Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 2 and Bizet-Borne’s Carmen Fantasy. Passionate about expanding the repertoire for flute, Ms. Choi performs her own arrangements of the violin concertos of Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky, numerous violin and cello sonatas, as well as Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, among others. Also active on the contemporary classical music scene, works commissioned for her include those by Korean-American composers Solbong Kim and James Ra. She also frequently performs the works of Isang Yun.
Ms. Choi has been a member of both the Astral Winds (Woodwind Quintet) and Trio Morisot (flute, viola, harp). An avid chamber musician, she performs regularly with members of the Cincinnati Symphony and has attended Marlboro Music, the Pacific Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, the National Orchestral Institute, and Carnegie Hall’s Professional Workshop, under Michael Tilson Thomas.
Born in Seoul, Jasmine Choi studied violin and piano at an early age. She began playing the flute at the age of nine, and one year later gave her first public performance with the Chongju Chamber Orchestra, in Haydn’s Concerto in D Major. Her solo career in Korea began at the age of fourteen, and she continues to appear as soloist in many Korean cities each year. At sixteen, she came to the U.S. to study with renowned flutists Julius Baker and Jeffrey Khaner at the Curtis Institute of Music. Baker has called her “a huge sensation,” and she was his last student before he passed away. Jasmine Choi holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Curtis and a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School.
Ms. Choi’s live performances and recordings are frequently broadcast in Korea, on both national television and radio. A Sony Classical artist in Korea, her recording, Jasmine Choi Plays Mozart (which includes the D Major and C Major concertos, with harpist Xavier de Maistre), was released in 2006 as part of the celebration of Mozart’s 250th anniversary. Her next recording project, Bach-Haus, will be released in the summer of 2010 and includes the world-première recording of J.S. Bach’s violin concertos transcribed for flute.
Jasmine Choi is an Astral artist.
Updated: JULY 2010
