Jinjoo Cho, violin
Brannon Cho, cello
Kyu Yeon Kim, piano

Formed in 2022 by violinist Jinjoo Cho, cellist Brannon Cho, and pianist Kyu Yeon Kim, TRIO SEOUL’s mission is to combine the forces of three quintessential 21st-century musicians, actively performing in the world’s greatest concert halls while presenting creative projects in collaboration with artists of various fields, including composers, choreographers, writers, and visual artists. The vibrant spirit of Seoul informs their artistic expression.

Jinjoo Cho (violin) is a first prize winner of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, Concours musical international de Montréal, and Buenos Aires, Schoenfeld, Stulberg Competitions. She toured extensively on concert stages around the world since her solo debut with the Seoul Philharmonic at the age of 11. Today, JinJoo performs with leading orchestras such as The Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Deutsche Radio Philharmonic, Orquesta Clásica Santa Cecilia de Madrid, and North Carolina, Phoenix, Charlotte Symphonies while collaborating with prominent conductors and musicians in distinguished venues and festivals such as the Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Herkulessaal (Munich), Schwetzingen Festspiele, La Seine Musicale (Paris), Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires), Banff Centre (Canada), and Aspen Music Festival.
Jinjoo is currently the founding Artistic Director of ENCORE Chamber Music Institute (501(c)(3) non-profit) and an Assistant Professor of Violin at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University. She previously served as faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Oberlin Conservatory. Most recently, Jinjoo has been invited to be a jury member at prominent international competitions such as the Indianapolis (USA, 2022) and Schoenfeld (China, 2023) Competitions, and a screening committee member of the Montréal (Canada, 2020/2023) and Premio Paganini (Italy, 2023) competitions. Jinjoo’s dedication to nurturing the next generation of young musicians stems directly from the influence of her teachers Paul Kantor and Jaime Laredo.

Brannon Cho (cello), an outstanding artist of his generation, has been praised for his “burnished tone, spellbinding technique, and probing musical mind” (Boston Classical Review). He is the first prize winner of the prestigious International Paulo Cello Competition, and a top prize winner of the Queen Elisabeth, Naumburg, and Cassadó International Cello Competitions. Brannon is also the recipient of the Janos Starker Foundation Award, the Landgraf von Hessen Prize from Kronberg Academy, the Ivan Galamian Award previously held by James Ehnes, and a scholarship award from the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation.
Recently, Brannon replaced Alisa Weilerstein in performing Prokofiev’s Sinfonia Concertante with the Belgian National Orchestra. He appears as a soloist with many of the top orchestras around the world, including the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Belgian National Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, and Orchestre Philharmonique Royale Liège, with renowned conductors such as Susanna Mälkki, Stéphane Denève, Christian Arming, and Hugh Wolff. In the upcoming seasons, he is scheduled to perform at the Cello Biënnale Amsterdam, Armenia International Music Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Vancouver Chamber Music Society, and Seoul Arts Center.
A lover of chamber music, Brannon regularly shares the stage with internationally renowned artists such as Anne-Sophie Mutter, Christian Tetzlaff, Gidon Kremer, Joshua Bell, Isabelle Faust, and Tabea Zimmermann. In 2022, he formed Trio Seoul with pianist Kyu Yeon Kim and violinist Jinjoo Cho.

Kyu Yeon Kim (piano) is a laureate of the Dublin, Queen Elisabeth, Cleveland, Gina Bachauer, Geneva, and Missouri Southern International Piano Competitions. She has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Severance Hall, BOZAR, Jordan Hall, Seoul Arts Center, the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, New World Center in Miami, Penderecki European Centre for Music, Tivoli Vredenburg in Utrecht and Opera de Rennes.
Kyu Yeon has appeared as a soloist with a number of orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, New World Symphony, National Orchestra of Belgium, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonietta Cracovia, Utah Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, Hungarian Chamber Orchestra, KBS Symphony Orchestra and the RTE National Symphony Orchestra. As an avid chamber musician, she was invited to perform at the Casals Festival in France, Emanacje Festival in Poland, Great Mountains Winter Festival, Seoul Spring Festival, Seoul International Music Festival, and Miami Chamber Music Festival.
Kyu Yeon studied at Korean National University of Arts, Universität der Künste in Berlin, Curtis Institute of Music, New England Conservatory, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Manhattan School of Music. Her teachers include Gary Graffman, Russell Sherman, and Sergei Babayan. Kyu Yeon is currently an assistant professor of piano at the Seoul National University in Korea.