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Elaine Kwon made her orchestral debut with the Washington-Idaho
Symphony at age 15 and has since performed solo, concerto, and
chamber music concerts throughout the US, Canada and Asia. She
was a top prize winner in the Young Keyboard Artist International
Competition, Music Teachers National Association competitions,
Baldwin Keyboard Awards, Tablerock Young Artist Competition and
others. She tours regularly as part of the Hebert/Kwon piano duo,
and has been broadcast on public television and radio in the US,
Canada and Asia. She was a Visiting Professor of Piano at the
Conservatory of Music in Wuhan, People's Republic of China in
June of 1999 and performed duo piano concerts with pianist Sandra
Hebert in a China tour in the fall of 2000. In addition to concerts,
they were guests on Chinese radio and taught master classes at
the music conservatories in Wuhan, Chengdu and Tianjin. They are
regular guests on WGBH's "Classical Performances" in
Boston.
As soloist and collaborative musician, she has performed/composed/choreographed
productions of piano music combined with other art forms. Recent
performances in New York include presentations at Angel Orensanz
Theater, Lincoln Center Rose Studio and the Knitting Factory.
As a composer, she created an original score for the highly-acclaimed
Shakespearean play, Corsetless, which is scheduled for Off-Broadway
in 2008/9. She is currently making a CD of the solo piano works
of Grammy-winning composer Sam Parkins.
Elaine received a Doctorate of Musical Arts with
highest honors from Boston University; a Master of Music from
New England Conservatory with highest honors and the Distinction
in Performance Award; and a Bachelor of Music from University
of Texas in Austin with highest honors and the Academic All-American
award. Former teachers include Anthony di Bonaventura, Leonard
Shure, Danielle Martin and Jerome Lowenthal.
She holds a second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon
Do and is five-time US National Tae Kwon Do Champion in Traditional
and Creative Forms (1994, 1997-2000). As a member of a National
exhibition team, Elaine performed for US soldiers stationed in
Korea in the USO Jhoon Rhee Show (formerly USO Bob Hope Show)
in celebration of US Independence Day. She was named one of Boston's
"Most Alluring Women" by Boston Magazine, Chanel, and
Filene's, and appeared as one of "Ten Toughest Bostonians"
in the Improper Bostonian Magazine. New York Moves Magazine honored
her as a 2008 Power Woman and will feature her in the September
issue, as well as in the 5th annual Power Woman Gala, celebrating
women of substance and influence, to be hosted by Ashley Judd
in September 2008. She has also been a featured guest on the Oprah
Winfrey Show.
Elaine was chosen to represent Nike in the 2003
Asia campaign as a kickboxer and appeared on the website www.nikebeautiful.com.
She has been in Vogue, Elle, InStyle, Ahead magazines, numerous
ads, health and fitness videos, corporate videos and the TV series
Uncle Morty's Dub Shack, Endless Knot (short martial arts film
sponsored by Scion), The Black Pearl movie, Psionics movie and
has been an extra on Sex and the City, Dave Chappelle Show and
others. She was a cast member of the cooking/travel TV pilot,
"Cooking in the Raw," filmed in Tobago. She hosted the
2006 action/urban adventure/martial arts TV show: "The Lounge--Shaken
'n Stirred" on ImaginAsian TV. Presently she studies Shaolin
Kung Fu at the USA Shaolin Temple in New York with Sifu Shi Yan
Ming.
Elaine is an Affiliated Artist in the Music Department
at MIT where she teaches piano lab and piano performance. She
is co-founder/director of the New York-based chamber group, Sapphire
Ensemble and a member of the Forecast New Music Ensemble. She
is also Goodwill Ambassador of Performing Arts and Education for
the United Nations Sophia Women's World Conference, to be held
in Sofia Bulgaria in May 2010 and will go on a world tour, performing
solo and in collaboration with renowned bass singer, Valentin
Peytchinov, beginning in May 2008. Elaine traveled around the
world for a year and a half before making her home in New York
City, where she continues to explore ways to combine and communicate
her passion for music, martial arts, sports, travel, cooking and
optimal living.
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