A Korean-American pianist from southern California, James Cho made his first appearance as the Young Artist’s Guild winner where he performed numerous solo and chamber recitals. During his tenure, Mr. Cho earned his bachelor’s degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a master’s degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins University.

Mr. Cho also completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Texas (USA). During the years of his studies, Mr. Cho’s teachers have included Brian Connelly, Robert McDonald, Robert Shannon, Bruce Sutherland, and has frequently performed in masterclasses of Leon Fleisher, Marc Durand, Joseph Kalichstein, Anton Kuerti, John Perry, Menahem Pressler, and Rosalyn Tureck.

In the competition scene, Mr. Cho has been successful at the Joanna Hodges International, the MTNA Collegiate Nationals, the New Orleans International, and has captured first prizes on many occasions including the Kingsville International, the Isabel Scionti, and the Los Angeles Liszt International piano competitions. He has worked with conductors David Cho, Louis Lane, Yuli Turovsky, and Timothy Weiss performing a wide range of repertoire from William Byrd to Oliver Knussen. Mr. Cho also has frequently performed throughout Texas, Aspen Music Festival, Centre d’Arts Orford in Canada, Gijón in Spain, and ASCI summer orchestra festival in South Korea.

Mr. Cho is often an adjudicator for many piano competitions and presents masterclasses at music festivals throughout United States and South Korea. His students have won scholarships to Montecito International Summer Piano Festival, and top prizes in both local and national events including the college division TMTA Young Artists Piano State Competition, Forum Competition in Texas, and the winner of MasterWorks Festival Concerto Competition in Indiana. Mr. Cho presently serves as a piano faculty at Sam Houston State University’s School of Music in Huntsville (USA).