RUFUS CHOI,  California pianist, and recent First Place ($50,000) and People's Choice ($10,000) prize winner in the notable and first JOSE ITURBI INTERNATIONAL MUSIC COMPETITION which is making waves in the world press, has always felt his American birth and Korean heritage imparted an international aura and underlying wanderlust to a musical career which has found him performing in all parts of the world from childhood to the present, as a Yamaha Artist.   Some of the countries are, of course, America (where national as well as local solo television and radio performances, including ABC, CBS, KKGO, and WQXR, combine with live appearances throughout the country, including some Los Angeles highlights at the Music Center and a Zipper Hall solo recital to benefit AMRON, New York Lincoln Center and Weill Recital Hall solo program at Carnegie Hall, Pasadena Ambassador Auditorium, San Francisco Herbst Theatre, Savannah Onstage in Georgia, Palm Desert as a major prize winner in the International Joanna Hodges Piano Competition, Alexandria, also as a winner, in the Lousiana International Piano Competition, including a solo performance with the Rapides Symphony Orchestra); Austria (Salzburg Festival); Cyprus (Nicosia Concerts and Master Classes); England (Oxford Philomusica performances); France (Tours Festival, performances in Angoustrine and Osseja); Germany (Goettingen Symphony Orchestra concert, as soloist with Martin Braus conducting, in a recent palace concert at the wold famous Herrenhausen Gardens); Italy (Rovere D'oro International Piano Competition major prize winner), Korea (performance at Seoul Arts Center and at Sejong Hall, soloist with the Puchon

Philharmonic, and major prize winner in the Han Romanson International Piano Competition); Mexico (performances in Monterrey and top prize in the Parnassos International Piano Competition) Netherlands (Utrecht International Liszt Piano Competition and performances); Russia (Moscow International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition and Diploma Awards in 1998 and 2002); Spain (Puigcerda Festival); Switzerland (Locarno Music Festival); Taiwan (Taipei Music Festival  at the National Concert Hall and major prize winner in the Taiwan International Piano Competition and soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra). This truly international artist is a graduate of The Juilliard School (BM, MM) and the Soloklassen, which is the highest degree attainable, at the Musik Hochschule in Hannover, Germany.  His teachers include Vladimir Krainev, Konstantin Sirounian, Bruce Sutherland, and Oxana Yablonskaya. 

Some future musical ventures include recordings in Russia for Classical Records and in San Francisco with Con Brio Recordings. Highlights in the 2007-2008 season include performances in Frankfurt, Germany, with the Russian Chamber Philharmonic orchestra, and a concert tour of Korea managed by ARTSBANK.  In the 2008-2009 season, Mr. Choi will perform at HOAM Art Hall in Seoul, Korea, and is also scheduled to appear as soloist with the South Bay Chamber Orchestra in Los Angeles.  Also, he has recorded performances for a documentary on "The Life of Franz Liszt" which will broadcast on PBS in 2008.