Blue Griffin Label To Release Beethoven's Piano Sonatas Nos. 12-15 Performed By Young Hyun Cho June 27, 2025

The elegant and versatile pianist Young Hyun Cho has embarked on a project to record all 32 Beethoven sonatas. Her current album (catalogue number BGR685), featuring Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas Nos. 12 – 15 which will be released Friday, June 27, 2025, follows on the heels of the Sony release of the "Beethoven’s Last Three Piano Sonatas," which has received universal praise internationally.

Founded in 2000 by pianist/composer and highly sought-after producer/recording engineer Sergei Kvitko, Blue Griffin with nearly 300 releases in its catalogue has been praised for its extraordinary sound and production of the highest quality. "The lifelike, vibrant engineering typifies Blue Griffin's usual high sonic standards.”—Classics Today “Kvitko has built a record company renowned for many fine things. He provides a unique experience for the artists with whom he works: refined musical ears, a rich and vibrant quality of recording production and an integrity of engineering that is increasingly hard to come by these days.” —The Whole Note

Known for her idiomatic expression, impeccable technique, and broad-gauged knowledge of the Classical, Romantic, and Modern repertoire, Young Hyun Cho has performed throughout the world, from the Vienna Musikverein to the Berlin Philharmonic Concert Hall, from the Smetana Hall in Prague to the Solti Hall of the Liszt Academy in Budapest, and at the Seoul Arts Center in her native Korea. A critic from the Aachen newspaper in Germany referred to her as a "blessed interpreter of Beethoven," and continued, "the strength and fullness of her touch, the sensitively rendered legati of the cantilena were alive with expressiveness, passion, and temperament." 

Born in Korea to a non-musical family, Young Hyun Cho was introduced to Western classical music at an early age.  Young Hyun soon enjoyed spending hours practicing the piano, thanks to her father's influence, an anesthesiologist who loves to listen to the radio on the classical music channel.  After attending Yewon Middle School, Seoul Arts High School, and Seoul National University in Seoul, she left for the United States to pursue further studies. Young Hyun Cho obtained her Master of Music and Graduate Performance Diploma from the Peabody Conservatory and her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music. Her principal professors were Nelita True, Boris Slutsky, and Mikyung Kim.

Young Hyun Cho has appeared as soloist with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Euro Sinfonietta Wien, Filarmonica della Calabria of Italy, North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Teplice, Budapest Symphony Chamber Orchestra M.A.V., Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra, Korean Broadcasting System Symphony Orchestra, Korean Symphony Orchestra, Seoul National Symphony Orchestra, and the Eastman Symphony Orchestra. She is an associate professor of piano at Michigan State University College of Music, following her tenure as an associate professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. 

Since 2013, Ms. Cho has been married to distinguished nuclear physicist Dean Lee. Dr. Lee also works at Michigan State University and serves as the department head of theoretical nuclear science.  He is the founder of the Advanced Studies Gateway program at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at MSU. Together, they run the FRIB concert series at the university as part of the Advanced Studies Gateway. Dean and Young Hyun, who both feel strong compassion for animals and are devoted animal advocates, live with four rescue dogs. Ms. Cho is fluent in English and Korean and enjoys learning languages, including Italian, German, and Spanish.