Participant
Jiwon Choi
Violin
Accepted to the preliminary round of the 2026 Naumburg International Violin Competition.
Biography supplied for the 2026 competition.
Jiwon Choi is a violinist currently pursuing her Master of Music degree at the Yale School of Music. Originally from Korea, she completed her undergraduate studies in violin performance at Seoul National University with the highest honor award. She is currently studying with Professor Ani Kavafian, and previously studied with Kyungsun Lee, Seyoung Lee, Jiweon Moon, Ji Won Song, and Jeongyeon Kim in Korea. Jiwon has won numerous prizes in national and international competitions, including First Prizes at the New York Artists International Competition, the Nanpa Music Competition, the Sungjung Music Competition, and the Stradivarius Competition. At Yale, she won the String Quartet Award and the Chamber Music Competition. As a soloist, she has performed with the Seoul National University Symphony Orchestra, ESAOS, and Wonju Philharmonic Orchestra, and has appeared in various performances and chamber settings.
Pianists
2026 International Violin Competition
Min Joo Yi
, piano
Korean-American pianist Min Joo Yi has performed in the United States and Europe, with appearances at the Kennedy Center, Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, New York’s Klavierhaus, and the New World Center in Miami. Her concerto engagements include performances with the University of Puget Sound Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre Mélo’dix de l’Université Paris Nanterre. She was a solo-piano fellow at the Music Academy of the West in 2025.
Yi received the Jury Discretionary Prize at the 2024 Gurwitz International Piano Competition and a bronze medal at the 2019 Concours International Piano Campus. She was also a semifinalist in the 2020 National Chopin Piano Competition. Earlier honors include second prize in the 2013 Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition and a bronze medal at the 2011 Schimmel USASU International Piano Competition.
Her education bridges music and science. She earned an undergraduate degree in ecology and evolutionary biology and a certificate in music performance from Princeton University. At Peabody Conservatory, she completed a master’s degree and continued with doctoral studies under Yong-Hi Moon.