Combining liveliness with delicacy, Seong-Jin Cho’s piano playing is as colourful as it is virtuosic; his natural musicality and extraordinary talent distinguish him as an unmistakeable artist on the contemporary music scene. Born in 1994 in Seoul, he began learning the piano aged six and gave his first solo recital aged 11. In 2009 Seong-Jin Cho was the youngest prize-winner at the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan, winning third prize at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Piano Competition only two years later. He went on to study at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and achieved worldwide acclaim on winning the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 2015.

Now resident in Berlin, this young pianist gives concerts with some of the most well-known ensembles. Some of the highlights of his 2020/21 season include a re-invitation to the Berlin Philharmonic and his debut with the Munich Philharmonic. More recent and forthcoming highlights include concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony and the New York Philharmonic Orchestras. Seong-Jin Cho also gives guest appearances with his solo recitals in some of the world’s greatest concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the Konzerthaus Wien as well as at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival and the Rheingau Music Festival. Seong-Jin Cho is an exclusive artist with Deutsche Grammophon and his previously released albums have already received international acclaim from the critics. His latest album of Chopin’s 2nd Piano Concerto and the four Scherzos is due for release in August 2021.

In recent years, Duncan Ward has established himself as one of the most exciting and versatile conductors of his generation, whose lively interpretations of the classical repertoire are praised as much as his interpretations of 20th century masterpieces. Duncan Ward has been Chief Conductor of Philzuid since 2021. In addition to concerts in the Netherlands, the 2026/27 sees Duncan return to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Osaka Philharmonic and Kioi Hall Chamber Orchestra, and debut with the Tampere Philharmonic, Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, Norwegian Radio Orchestra and Warsaw Philharmonic.

Highlights of the previous three seasons have included debuts with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, WDR Sinfonieorchester and NDR Radiophilharmonie; alongside returns to the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, London Symphony Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony, Gürzenich-Orchester, Orchestre Philharmonique du
Luxembourg, Musikkollegium Winterthur and Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen.

Duncan made his North American debut conducting ›Die Zauberflöte‹ at The Metropolitan Opera in 2022.

Recent opera credits have included ›A Midsummer Night’s Dream‹ for Opernhaus Zürich, ›Turn of the Screw‹ for English National Opera, ›Così fan tutte‹ for Opéra National de Lyon, ›Death in Venice‹ for Stuttgart Staatsoper, ›Peter Grimes‹ for Oper Köln and ›Bluthochzeit‹ for Oper Frankfurt.

Duncan’s passion for a wide range of repertoire has seen him work with leading specialist ensembles ranging from Les Siècles and Balthasar Neumann Orchestra to Ensemble Modern and Ensemble intercontemporain. He studied Indian classical music with Ravi Shankar as a result of his charitable work in Europe and Asia.