Esther Jeehae Ahn
Piano
Esther Jeehae Ahn has captivated international audiences with her rare blend of musical brilliance, sensitivity, and depth. Praised by The Boston Musical Intelligencer for her interpretive coherence and grace, she has performed at major venues worldwide, including Lincoln Center, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Seoul Arts Center, and Moscow Conservatory.
Esther holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Piano Performance from the New England Conservatory, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music. A versatile soloist, chamber musician, and educator, she is Assistant Professor and Director of Keyboard Studies at the University of Central Florida(Orlando). Previously, she served as Assistant Professor of Piano at Weber State University, where she also directed the Piano Festival and Accompanying area. Esther also serves on faculty at Bay PianoFest at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Esther has won numerous prizes and awards, including first prizes in Junior Chopin Competition, Harvard Musical Association Competition, Boston Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, Busan Music Festival Competition, Ye-Eum Piano Festival, Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award from theJack Kent Cooke Foundation, Frances B. Lanier Award from New England Conservatory’s Preparatory School, and Arnold C. Taylor Award from Walnut Hill School for the Arts where she graduated summa cum laude and was inducted to the National Society of High School Scholars.
She was a guest artist at the South Korean launch of Steinway & Sons, the Ministry of National Defense in South Korea, and at the US-Korea Conference in New York City. Her performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio’s From the Top and WSMR Classical.
Equally at home with the traditional canon and music of our own time, Esther’s advocacy of new music has led to working closely with such distinguished composers as Peter Maxwell Davies and Unsuk Chin, as well as performances of works by leading contemporary voices including Jessie Montgomery, Caroline Shaw, Jennifer Higdon, Steve Reich, and John Harbison. She gave the world premiere of Amy Dunker’s solo works written for the courageous people of Ukraine. In recent seasons,
Esther has been invited to appear as a guest artist with the American Liszt Society, NOVA Chamber Music Series, Bonneville Chamber Music Festival, Korean-American Federation of Utah, Ogden Piano Festival, Browning Trio, and at two special gala celebrations for Walnut Hill School for the Arts. Additionally, she can be heard as a collaborative pianist on the recording of Thom Priest’s original composition for Bassoon and Piano, “Running the Green.”
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