Music Addition, MA107
Yeontaek Oh is visiting assistant professor of music in chamber and collaborative music at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
With praise from critics including “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,” Oh began playing the piano at age five. He studied at the Seoul Arts Center Academy for the Gifted, Seoul Arts High School, 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, Oh pursued 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 a D.M.A. 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.
Oh made his concerto debut at age 12 with the Wonju Philharmonic Orchestra and has since appeared as a soloist with the Daegu Philharmonic Orchestra, Daejeon Pop Orchestra, Euro-Asian Orchestra, Gwangju Philharmonic Orchestra, Jeonju Clamu Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of the University of Alicante, CRR-Cergy Orchestra, Morocco Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, Rome Tre University Orchestra, and Chuncheon Youth Orchestra as well as with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, Freiburg Musikhochschule Orchestra, and Cuba National Symphony Orchestra.
Invited to perform worldwide, Oh has given solo recitals across Korea, the United States, and throughout Europe as well as in Morocco, Brazil, and Cuba. His performances include the Lyon Chopin Association, Animato Association, Piano Campus Foundation, Great Mountain Festival, Kumho Foundation, Seoul Arts Center Summer Music Festival, The House Concert, and Chosun-Ilbo. More recently, he appeared at Salle Cortot in Paris, Theatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, Temple Israel with the musicians of Lenox Hill, Seoul Arts Center Summer Festival, and Piano Pic Festival in Bagnères-de-Bigorre, France.
In 2019, his performance in Paris was recorded live and released by Piano Campus Foundation. He has given master classes at Gangwon Arts High School and Gangwon University in Korea and at the Festival Pianos Folies du Touquet in France.
In addition to winning over 10 national competitions in Korea, including the prestigious Joong-Ang Music Competition and the Artsylvia Chamber Competition, Oh, a Young Steinway Artist, has received more than 10 international awards, including the 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), and the Morocco Philharmonic Orchestra Competition, Morocco (2nd Prize).