Cello
Kyungok Park started playing the piano at the age of 4. She began to play the cello when she was 9 years old. She was graduated from Seoul National University with 1st Prize receiving Prime Minister’s Award. By then she had won major music competitions in Korea, such as Ehwa-Kyunghyang, Joong-Ang, and Dong-A Music competition.
Kyungok Park became a winner of 2 important scholarships for her continuing study abroad. The one was DAAD(Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst) Scholarship, which was given to promising foreign musicians with both musical and academic excellence by German government. As a DAAD scholar she studied with prof. Andre Navarra at Staatliche Musikhoschule in Detmold, West Germany in 1981.
In 1982 Kyungok Park went to the United States with the other scholarship given by Rotary International. As a Rotary Fellow she studied with Prof. Aldo Parisot at Yale School of Music. She got her master’s degree at Yale in 1984. Afterwards she continued to study with Prof. Bernard Greenhouse and Prof. Timothy Eddy at State University of New York, Stony Brook. Working as a teaching assistant Kyungok Park received her doctoral degree from SUNY at Stony Brook in 1988.
Kyungok Park had played in the World Orchestra of Jeunesse Musicale in Europe twice, when she was an undergraduate student. Between 1987 and 1988 she joined newly founded New World Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas in Miami, Florida. These orchestral experiences lead her to take the position of principal cello at Puchon Philharmonic Orchestra, when she returned to Korea in 1988.
Kyungok Park is an active recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber music player. She had given over 30 solo recitals in Korea, Japan, US and Europe. She appears frequently with KBS Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Korean Symphony Orchestra, and Puchon Philharmonic Orchestra.
Internationally she played with Jangchun Philharmony in China, National Orchestra of Avignon in France and Festival Orchestra of Kirishima in Japan.
Since 1991 Kyungok Park has been playing with Quartet 21 as a founding member. With Quartet 21 she made a tour in West-South Asia as a cultural ambassador. Quartet 21 was awarded numerous Prizes, such as “Artist of the year 2006” by Korean Cultural Minister, “The Best Artist of Korea 2007” by Korean President, and “The Best Performer’s Award” by Daewon Cultural Foundation.
Kyungok Park had been invited to Kirishima International Music Festival in Japan over 25 years from 1993-2015. She has appeared with many great artists such as Taison Dang, Tsuyoshi Tsutsuni, Jakob Leuschner, Gerald Fauth and Shigeo Neriki. Kyungok Park has been a member of jury for the International Johannes Brahms Competition in Austria since 2007.
As a devoted educator Kyungok Park is professor at Hanyang University in Seoul, Korea since 1993.