FACULTY

This new and exciting festival is the brainchild of Junghwa Moon Auer, who brings a wealth of international experience in academies and festivals to this splendid event. A native of Korea, Junghwa Moon Auer began her piano studies at the age of six. She attended the prestigious Yewon Middle School and Seoul Music and Art High School.

After graduating from Yonsei University in Korea, Ms. Moon came to the United States in 1993 to study at the New England Conservatory, where she obtained her MM degree. She attended the Aspen Music Festival for four summers, as well as summer programs in Chautauqua, Luzern, and Prague. At the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, she earned her DMA and won CCM’s concerto competition, performing Schumann’s Concerto in A minor in a live radio broadcast on WGUC in Cincinnati.

In 2001, Ms. Moon returned home, performing frequently in Seoul, Busan, and Gwangju, and teaching at several institutions, including Seoul National University. During this time, she performed Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with the Janácek Orchestra in the Czech Republic, the Chopin E minor Concerto with the Zilina Orchestra in Slovakia, and Mozart’s K. 467 with the Cairo Symphony, becoming the first Korean pianist to play in Egypt.

Having attended the Prague Keyboard Institute as a student, she returned there in 2011 and 2012 as a faculty member. A couple of years later, she helped New York’s Young Concert Artists hold regional Asian auditions in Seoul and served on their jury.

When Ms. Moon moved to Bloomington in 2006, the Edward Auer Chopin Class was a small annual event. Recognizing its potential, she transformed it as its new coordinator, expanding the repertoire and vigorously recruiting students from other countries. Outreach concerts, from local venues like Meadowood to prestigious locations like New York City’s Steinway Hall, successfully raised the workshop’s profile. A solo competition was introduced, and in 2014, the workshop introduced a concerto competition, offering two participants the chance to play a concerto with an orchestra. In 2015, the entire workshop was streamed and archived for the first time, enabling remote participation and expanding the workshop’s geographical reach. In 2016 Chamber music was introduced and In 2017, the workshop presented its most grandiose project: all five Beethoven piano concertos, with the first concerto performed by Moon Auer herself.

Junghwa Moon and her husband, Edward Auer, have been performing as a duo for the past eight years in many cities in the US, Korea, Canada, Hong Kong, and Vietnam. Since 2017, she has served as an artist faculty member at Roosevelt University.

• AIPAS / 인디애나 EA 워크샵 감독, 시카고 루즈벨트 대학 교수

Pianist Kevin Kenner's breakthrough year was 1990, marked by winning top honors at the International Fryderyk Chopin Competition in Warsaw, the International Terence Judd Award in London, and clinching third prize at the Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow. He also won prizes in the Van Cliburn and Gina Bachauer international competitions in the years leading up to these achievements. 

Hailing from southern California, Kenner's musical journey began with Krzysztof Brzuza before furthering his studies in Poland under Ludwik Stefański. His education continued at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore with Leon Fleisher and then with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling at the Hochschule für Musik in Hannover, Germany. 

Renowned for his performances with esteemed orchestras worldwide, Kenner has collaborated with eminent conductors including Sir Charles Groves, Andrew Davis, Hans Vonk, Frans Bruggen, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Kazimierz Kord, Jiri Belohlavek and Antoni Wit. His activity as chamber musician has involved work with Matt Haimovitz and Kyung-Wha Chung as well as the Belcea, Tokyo, Endellion, Vogler, Panocha, and Escher Quartets. Kenner’s collaborative engagements also included an award winning recording of the Chopin concertos arranged for piano and string quintet by himself and Krzysztof Dombek. He has also won awards for his recordings of works by Ignacy Jan Paderewski with Podlaska Philharmonic  and arrangements of music by Piazzolla as a member of the Piazzoforte Ensemble. 

Kenner has served as a juror for major competitions including the Busoni International Competition, Prague Spring International Music Competition, and International Chopin Competition and as chair of the jury for International Chopin Competition in Darmstadt, the National Chopin Competition in Miami, and the Parnassus International Competition in Peru.

Kenner shared his expertise as a professor for over a decade at the Royal College of Music in London, and since 2015 at Frost School of Music at the University of Miami where he founded the Frost Chopin Academy.

• 바르샤바 쇼팽 콩쿨 우승 및 심사위원 역임, 마이애미 음악대학 교수 

Susumu Aoyagi (Pianist), born in Managua, Nicaragua, made his orchestral debut with the Fort Worth Symphony, conducted by John Giordano at the age of nine while studying with Jo Boatright, assistant of Lili Kraus with whom he received lessons until the age of fifteen.

He became the winner of the Japan National Music Competition for Students, followed by receiving the West Japan Music Award. Aoyagi is prizewinner of the Marguerite-Long/Jacques-Thibauld International Competition 1992 (Paris), and has also received 1st prizes at numerous international competitions including the Alfredo Casella Competition (Italy), Ennio Porrino Competition (Italy), and the Jaen Piano Competition (Spain).

Aoyagi has made orchestral and solo appearances throughout Europe, the United States, and Asia. In 2002 Aoyagi received the 28th Chopin-Society Awards of Japan, and each of his 5 solo-CD recordings, notably of the works of John Field and Franz Liszt, have been highly acclaimed. 

His musical training includes studies with teachers such as Yuko Fujimura, Fujiko Yamada, Lili Kraus, Klaus Hellwig, and Pascal Devoyon. Since 2001 he has been appointed associate professor of piano at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music(GEIDAI), and he is also Vice President of the jury and producer of the Takamatsu International Piano Competition.

• 프랑스 롱티보 국제 콩쿨 입상 및 스페인 하엔 콩쿨 우승, 도쿄대학교 교수 

Daejin Kim, a distinguished Korean pianist, clinched first prize in the 1985 Robert Casadesus International Piano Competition (now Cleveland Competition), propelling him into a successful career. 

Since his debut in New York in 1986, lauded by the New York Times as having “all the accouterments necessary for a successful solo career,” Kim has performed in major cities across the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Significant accomplishments include his monumental performance of the complete Beethoven piano concertos in a single day, and performance of a complete cycle of the Mozart piano concertos. Notable among his recent accomplishments is conducting from the keyboard for Mozart Piano Concertos K488 and K453 with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. 

Recognized for his excellence, the Music Association of Korea presented Kim with the Professor of the Year Award in 2006. Kim has also received Artist of the Year from the Korean Ministry of Culture and Grand Prize from the Daewon Cultural Foundation in 2017. 

Many prestigious competitions have invited Daejin Kim to serve as jury member including Busoni, Gina Bachauer, Clara Haskil, Beethoven (Vienna and Bonn), Cleveland, Takamatsu, Hamamatsu, Leeds, Queen Elizabeth, and Rubinstein International Competitions. Student’s of Kim have won prizes in international competitions including Clara Haskil and Leeds competitions (Sunwook Kim) and Geneva and Busoni competitions (Chloe Jiyeong Mun).

From 2008 to 2017, Kim served as Music Director of the Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra, with which he had previously collaborated as soloist and conductor. During his time as Music Director Kim had highly successful performances at Carnegie Hall, Musikverein and Merano Festival, Herrenchiemsee Festival, and Bruckner Festival. Kim has additionally appeared as guest conductor with major orchestras worldwide.

Formerly serving as Professor of Piano at the Korean National University of Arts, Professor Kim's influence today extends beyond performance as he guides students to victory in prestigious competitions.

• 현 한국 예술 종합학교 총장