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Alejandro Cho Pianist Portrait 4
Photo by Willi Behnisch

Born in Pusan (South Korea), he moved to Buenos Aires (Argentina) at the age of 13, where he later began studying piano with Prof. Maria Teresa Criscuolo at the Universidad Nacional de las Artes, Buenos Aires. He presented his Bachelor’s thesis with the 24 Etudes by F. Chopin, for which he received the highest academic distinction “Summa cum laude”. He continued his studies at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe (Germany) with Prof. Kalle Randalu, where he received a Master’s degree in piano with distinction. In 2019, he completed the Solistenexamen Piano, also with distinction, at the above institution, where he performed the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 together with the Philharmonie Baden-Baden under the baton of Chief Conductor Pavel Baleff. Alejandro has also dedicated to the study of chamber music with Prof. Ralf Gothoni. In 2021 he receives the Master Specialized Music Performence – Liedduo and in 2023 his Master in Music Pedagogy, both at the Zurich University of the Arts (Switzerland) under the direction of Prof. Christoph Berner.

He has been selected to participate in various master classes with scholarships such as the International Summer Academy University Mozarteum Salzburg (Austria), with professors such as Nelson Goerner, Peter Lang, Arnulf von Arnim, Natalia Trull, Alfredo Perl, Roger Muraro, Daniel Fueter, Hartmut Höll, Mitsuko Shirai, etc. He was a scholarship holder of “Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Oberrhein e.V.” (Germany).

A selection of awards:

  • 1st prize in “Interpretation of Contemporary Music” at the Zurich University of the Arts (Switzerland) 2022.
  • Finalist of the 11th International Chamber Music Competition “Franz Schubert and the Music of Modernity”, Graz (Austria) 2022.
  • 2nd prize at the 7th John Cage Interpretation Award Halberstadt (Germany) 2021.
  • 3rd prize at the I. International Piano Competition of Tucuman (Argentina) 2016.
  • 1st prize at the “XXI Concurso Nacional de piano – Ciudad de Necochea”, Buenos Aires (Argentina) 2013.
  • Audience Prize at the International Summer Academy Radolfzell (Germany) 2013.
  • 2nd prize at the I. Lumen Artis Competition for Chamber Music in Voice and Piano, Buenos Aires. (Argentina) 2012.
  • 1st prize at the Mozarteum Youth Music Competition, Santa Fe (Argentina) 2011.

Alejandro has special interests in contemporary music and works closely with composers such as Alfons Karl Zwicker, Bernhard Lang, Moritz Eggert, Isabel Mundry, George Lewis and others. The concert, on 28 October 2022 at the Zeughaus Teufen (Switzerland) with the piece “Dem heiligsten Stern über mir” by A.K. Zwicker, was recorded by SRF, and will be broadcast on SRF 2 Kultur in 22 February 2023. In November 2022 he made his debut at the Tonhalle Zurich with O.Messiaen’s Harawi Songs.

As a accompanist, he worked at the Institute for Music Theatre at the University of Music Karlsruhe in 2015-2019, and accompanied Prof. Ingrid Haubold’s singing class in 2015-2017. As a pedagogue, he was assistant to Prof. Kalle Randalu at the Karlsruhe University of Music from 2017-2019, and piano teaching assistant to Prof. Maria Teresa Criscuolo at the Universidad Nacional de las Artes (Argentina) from 2013-2014. Since 2022 he has been a piano lecturer at the Konservatorium Winterthur (Switzerland).

Alejadro Cho regularly appears on stage with the Duo Martínez/Cho, which he founded in 2012 together with the soprano Alicia Martínez. He gives numerous concerts in Europe and Latin America.