Hyung-ki Joo () is a Korean-British

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

, composer, comedian and one half of the comedy-musical duo Igudesman & Joo.

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man (song), Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo ...

chose Joo to arrange and record his classical piano pieces for the album ''

Fantasies & Delusions ''Fantasies & Delusions'' is the thirteenth and final studio album composed by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel. It features his longtime friend, the British-Korean pianist Richard Hyung-ki Joo, performing compositions written by Joel and ...

''. It was recorded in the Mozart Hall of the

Vienna Konzerthaus The Konzerthaus is a concert hall located in Vienna, Austria, which opened in 1913. It is situated in the third district just at the edge of the first district in Vienna. Since it was founded it has always tried to emphasise both traditional and ...

, and reached the No. 1 spot on the '' Billboard'' album chart for 18 weeks.

Biography

Born in England of South Korean parents, Joo began his formal training in the UK at the

Yehudi Menuhin School The Yehudi Menuhin School is a Specialist school, specialist music school in Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey, England, founded in 1963 by violinist and conductor Yehudi Menuhin. The current director of music is the British classical pianist Ashley Wass. ...

with Peter Norris and Seta Tanyel and later earned his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory in New York City. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition, as well as a bachelor's in mu ...

, where he studied with Nina Svetlanova. Other teachers include

Richard Goode Richard Goode (born June 1, 1943) is an American classical pianist who is especially known for his interpretations of Mozart and Beethoven. Early life Goode was born in the East Bronx, New York. He studied piano with Elvira Szigeti, Claude Fra ...

and

Oleg Maisenberg Oleg Maisenberg (born 29 April 1945) is a Soviet-Austrian pianist and teacher. Early life and career Born to a Jewish family in Odessa, Oleg Maisenberg received his first piano lessons from his mother at the age of five. He completed his studi ...

. Yehudi Menuhin himself had chosen Joo to perform as a soloist for his eightieth birthday concert at the Barbican Hall, London. As a soloist, he has performed with conductors such as

Sergiu Comissiona Sergiu Comissiona (June 16, 1928 – March 5, 2005) was a Romanian-Israelis, Israeli-Americans, American Conducting, conductor and violinist. Biography Early life Born in Bucharest, Romania in a Jewish family, he began violin studies at the ag ...

, Andrey Andreev,

Rumon Gamba Rumon Gamba (born 24 November 1972) is a British conductor. Biography Gamba studied music at Durham University, and then went to the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he studied conducting with Colin Metters, George Hurst and Sir Coli ...

, Daniel Raiskin, and

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name: * Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor ** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England ** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to the v ...

. In 2001, he founded a piano trio called Dimension, with Rafal Payne and Thomas Carroll. He has also created and performed several shows which integrate comedy with classical music. His show, ''A Little Nightmare Music'', co-created with

Aleksey Igudesman Aleksey Mikhailovich Igudesman (russian: Алексей Михайлович Игу́десман, link=no; born 22 February 1973) is a Russian-German violinist, composer, conductor, comedian and actor. He performs in the comedy-musical duo Igude ...

, has been performed all over the world since its world premiere at the

Vienna Musikverein The ( or ; ), commonly shortened to , is a concert hall in Vienna, Austria, which is located in the Innere Stadt district. The building opened in 1870 and is the home of the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra. The acoustics of the building's 'Gre ...

. He is one of the early team members of the Music Traveler GmbH. Music Traveler has several notable musicians as ambassadors;

Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, Oscars and four Grammy Awards, Grammys, and has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmys and a Tony Awar ...

John Malkovich John Malkovich (born December 9, 1953) is an American actor. He is the recipient of several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Screen Actors Guild Aw ...

Sean Lennon is an American–British musician, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and half-brother to Julian Lennon. Over the course of his career, he has been a member of the bands Cibo Matto, The G ...

, and

Adrien Brody Adrien Nicholas Brody (born April 14, 1973) is an American actor. He received widespread recognition and acclaim after starring as Władysław Szpilman in Roman Polanski's '' The Pianist'' (2002), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Acto ...

are their chief ambassadors.chief ambassadors

References

External links

Hyung-ki Joo Website

Hyung-ki Joo and Aleksey Igudesman Website

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Joo, Hyung-Ki 1973 births Living people English people of South Korean descent English classical composers English comedians English classical pianists People educated at Yehudi Menuhin School Manhattan School of Music alumni 21st-century classical pianists