PRESS

“Her playing was admirable in many ways.”

- The New York Times

“Tchaikovsky's piano concerto was in capable hands and (Minju) Choi seemed to even motivate the orchestra bringing out their finest on accompaniment. Choi's hands seemed in perfect synchronicity throughout the well-known concerto, playing with such vigor, the audience even gave her a standing ovation after the second movement until they were settled back into their seats...

To be honest though, the audience couldn't help it. Choi brought the movement to such a climactic, feverish pitch, that it almost seemed like a grand finale. Onward she played however, and the ovation and bravos brought three deserved curtain calls for Choi.

A graduate of the prestigious Juilliard School in New York, Choi approaches her instrument like few who have graced the stage with the Philharmonic. While it was her return engagement with the orchestra, she continues to mature and progress gaining accolades worldwide as one of today's finest, young, gifted pianists.”

- The Citizens’ Voice

“Ms. Choi shined in interpreting passages of wonderful, light beauty (…) deserved standing ovations.”

-Shreveport Times

“Indeed, the commanding performance of the evening by pianist Minju Choi helped Liszt's "Totentanz" sound more like a 20-century experiment than a romantic work written in 1849.

Ms. Choi is a lover of effects, and she has the ability to make the piano imitate other instruments of the orchestra. Flute, bells, and a host of percussion instruments were among the sounds that she conjured from the Steinway. Something of a conceptual artist, her fortissimos were powerful and violent, her pianissimos like crystallized air, and her rubato sometimes stretched to the breaking point.

Above all, Ms. Choi's interpretation and execution were compelling and authoritative. Hers is a career to follow.”

-Santa Barbara News-Press

“Ms. Choi was positively mesmerizing on the Steinway grand piano as she interpreted Tchaikovsky's "Piano Concerto No. 1, Opus 23."

Ms. Choi glided effortlessly through Tchaikovsky's piece approaching each key, every note with an expressive fluency. Ms. Choi embraced Tchaikovsky's concerto and made it her own with a magnificent mastery of each and every nuance. She approaches the keys with a fiery intensity at some points and expressive tonal nuances the next.”

-The Times-Tribune

“Stunning...would have bowled us over whatever (she) played.”

-The Santa Barbara Independent

“Korean-born (Minju) Choi swept on stage in a flaming red gown and plunged into the towering work. It was instructive to hear this slender young woman with her small hands, masterfully playing the dazzling passages Liszt wrote for himself. According to lore, Liszt's hands each spanned in octave and a half.”

-Valley Voice

“Choi's performance was dazzling, requiring an extraordinary expenditure of energy nicely regulated to suggest the exuberant virtuosity of native ensembles playing music close to the performers' hearts.”

-Jay Harvey Upstage