Eun-Joo Kwak
Eun-Joo Kwak
Pianist
Eun-Joo Kwak joins the faculty of the Art Connects International Summer Music Festival in Urbino, beginning 2010. Kwak is an internationally admired concert artist, whose performances have led her to Russia, Asia and throughout the United States, appearing at the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts in Chicago, American Landmark Festival in New York, Taipei National Recital Hall in Taiwan, and the Seoul Arts Center in Korea. A highly acclaimed concerto soloist, she has performed with numerous orchestras including the KBS Symphony Orchestra of Korea, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, and others. In addition to winning the Concerto Competition at Northwestern University, she has also earned prizes in prestigious competitions such as the Samick Piano Competition in Seoul, and the International Beethoven Sonata Competition in Memphis. She is also a recipient of the Scholarship of the Korean Embassy of the United States in Washington, D.C., and the Yule Bogue Young Artists Award in San Francisco.
Kwak is in constant demand as chamber musician. She was a member of the Cheng and Kwak Piano Duo, Bronze Medalists in the Tokyo International Piano Duo Competition in Japan. Her piano duo performance CD "Cheng and Kwak Piano Duo" is available on Northwestern Press label. In addition to performing regularly in the Clarus Piano Trio, she also frequently collaborates with musicians in the Chicago and Milwaukee musical communities. Kwak also actively promotes contemporary music, frequently performing at new music festivals. She has collaborated with numerous artists on the Music From Almost Yesterday concert series in Milwaukee, and enjoys premiering newly-composed works including compositions by her composer husband Dr. James Crowley. Her CD of contemporary chamber music performance “Uncommon Voices’ was released by Vienna Modern Masters label in Austria. The CD is commercially available through the company’s American distributor CDeMusic of New York.
Also a sought-after clinician and adjudicator, Kwak has given lectures and recitals for many piano teachers’ associations, and has served as an adjudicator for piano competitions at a state level as well as a national level in the US. She has also been a judge for the International Smetana Piano Competition in Pilsen, Czech Republic. Eun-Joo Kwak’s students have won top prizes at such competitions as the Steinway Young
Artists Competition of Chicago, Chopin Competition of Milwaukee, and the Wisconsin Badger State Auditions. Her students have also attended major universities and conservatories in the US. Her performances have been broadcast through KBS-FM (Korea Broadcasting System), WFMT-Chicago (98.7 FM), Christian Radio of Taiwan, and Wisconsin Public Radio. Kwak earned her Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from Seoul National University in Korea, Master of Music from Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University, and Doctor of Music from Northwestern University.
Dr. Kwak is currently Associate Professor of Piano at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, where she teaches applied piano, accompanying, chamber music, piano pedagogy, and piano literature. She is Director of the Cardinal Stritch University Annual Piano Festival, a national competition and festival for high school students. She is also Coordinator of the Stritch Music Studio, a preparatory music academy at the university. Her performance engagements of this season includes a concerto performance with the Manitowoc Symphony Orchestra.