Pianist Yeontaek Oh performs works by Clara Schumann & Robert Schumann, live from the Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago.
Praised by critics for the “millimeter precision of touch,” “full of contrasts and nuances,” “rare sensitivity and dazzling virtuosity,” “finesse of touch and technical mastery,” and the “brave administration of silence,” Yeontaek Oh began playing the piano at the age of five. He studied at Seoul National University, and New England Conservatory of Music, where he graduated with honors and was awarded the Gilbert Foundation Scholarship. After his studies in Boston, he pursued further study in Europe, completing his Konzertexamen at Hochschule für Musik Freiburg as a recipient of the DAAD and German Government Scholarship, and the Concertiste degree at École Normale de Musique de Paris on a full scholarship. He later earned his DMA at Manhattan School of Music with a teaching assistantship, completing a dissertation on piano pedagogy in relation to atonality and program music, focusing on his former teacher Gilead Mishory’s children’s pieces.
In addition to winning over ten national competitions in Korea, including the prestigious Joong-Ang Music Competition and Artsylvia Chamber Competition, Oh has received more than ten international awards including Rio de Janeiro International Competition, Brazil (1st Prize) , Prix de Bern, Interlaken Klassics, Switzerland (2nd Prize), Piano Campus International Competition, France (1st Prize, Contemporary Piece Prize, Audience Prize), Animato International Piano Competition, France (Schumann Special Prize), Concours International de Piano de Lyon, France (3rd Prize, Special Prize), Arthur Lepthien Wettbewerb, Germany (1st Prize), Frechilla-Zuloaga International Piano Competition, Spain (1st Prize), Rome Chopin International Competition, Italy (2nd Prize), Valsesia Musica International Piano Competition, Italy (2nd Prize), Palma D’oro International Piano Competition, Italy (2nd Prize), Concorso Internazionale Pianistica “Piana del Cavaliere,” Italy (2nd Prize), Morocco Philharmonic Orchestra Competition, Morocco (2nd Prize)
A Young Steinway Artist, Yeontaek Oh has joined the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University as Visiting Assistant Professor of Music in January 2025.
