Past Performances

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Brandon Seo is a freshman at Cupertino High School. He started playing piano at the age of 4 and is currently studying with Jeeae Kim. When he first heard the sound of a piano, he was inspired to learn to play. He was selected and performed as an honor student for the Certificate of Merit Level 10 exam. Brandon has participated in various competitions and won many awards. Most recently, he has gotten 1st place for Global Music Organization. He received 2nd place at the SF International Innovative Competition and BAMA Competition, and 2nd place at the US International Competition. He also won 3rd place in the OPUS state-level competition and qualified for nationals, and 2nd place in the American Protégé International Competition and was invited to play at Carnegie Hall. He often plays the piano as an accompanist for his church. Besides piano, he has also played the baritone for 4 years, and is part of his high school marching band. He hopes he can use this Benefit Concert to help other musicians with a passion for music. Apart from music, he enjoys playing board games, watching movies, and spending time with friends.

Chloe is a freshman at Archbishop Mitty High School and is thrilled for the opportunity to play with an amazing ensemble of musicians! A pianist initially, Chloe moved to the violin and studied with Ms. SungHee Park and is currently with Ms. SeoHee Byun. Competitively, Chloe placed 1st in the Grand Prize Virtuoso International Competition, invited to perform at Solitar Mozarteum in Salzburg Austria, placed 2nd at SF International Innovation and received Honorable Mention at American Protege. She is a repeat member of several orchestras including California All-State, Almaden Youth Musicians, and KAMSA where she had the honor of playing with pianist Kun-Woo Paik and is excited to play with Soprano Sumi Jo this fall. At Mitty, Chloe serves as Freshman Class President. She was a semi-finalist at California State Speech and Debate Championship as one of three freshmen competing for her nationally ranked school, a two-time Mitty Convocation Award recipient presented to the top freshmen in her award categories, a member of the Principal’s Honor Roll, a forward for her JV Field Hockey, and she is elated on joining Mitty’s Royals Dance Team next year. 

Dongwoo Kim attends Santa Teresa High School, 9th grade. He was inspired from a short music called “Summer” by Joe Hisaishi. He began playing piano at the age of 5 when he got the chance to start learning piano. He has since then went on to compete in many piano events, winning 1st place in US International Open Music Competition, 2nd place in us international competition BAMA, and placing 3rd twice in U.S. Open Music Competition. He is also taking part in volunteering for the pianist at Joyful Ringers. He also takes part in playing multiple instruments in marching band, such as a xylophone. His piano teacher is Jeeae Kim who has been teaching him for 10 years.

Ein Jung is a 9th grader at Lynbrook High School. She started playing piano at the age of 10 with Jeeae Kim. Her original motivation to play piano was from her parents, but over time she began to enjoy practicing piano. She has won multiple awards, including 1st and multiple 2nd places at the US International Open Music Festival, 2nd in the San Francisco International Innovative Music Competition in Chamber Ensembles, 2nd in the BAMA competition, 3rd in the International Youth Music Competition, and was invited to play at the American Protégé International and Bach Music Festival. She is currently at Piano Theory Level 10 and is piano section leader for Lynbrook High School’s String Orchestra. She is also a part of Almaden Youth Musicians, where she partakes in other benefit concerts and teaches piano to refugees. She often plays piano during mass at her church. Other than piano, she is learning the double bass at her school, tutoring kids in math, drawing, and practicing taekwondo. She likes coding and is currently working to develop a mobile app during the summer. 

Ellie Choi is a freshman at Los Altos High School, and she started playing piano in 3rd grade with Jeeae Kim as her piano teacher. In the start, she started playing because she was encouraged to, but in later years decided to continue because of her passion for music. Since 2018, Ellie has gone out on various piano competitions and performances. Ellie has gotten 1st place for the Global Music Organization, 1st and 2nd place twice in a row for the US International Open Music Competition, 2nd place twice, and 3rd place 4 times for US Open Music Competition, invited to play at Carnegie Hall because of placing in the American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competition, and qualified for the Junior Bach Festival, in addition to many others. She plays piano as an accompanist in her church along with playing the flute. Outside of piano, Ellie is a part of her school's band for multiple instruments like the flute, xylophone, and vibraphone. She also loves playing basketball for her school team and has been on the principal's gold honor roll. She’s interested in leadership at her school; she has been elected to be sophomore council president next year.  She has been dancing since she was 3 years old including TA’ing other classes and is a part of her school’s dance team as well as cheer this coming year! 

Hailey is a sophomore at Cupertino High School and began playing piano at the age of 5 with her teacher, Jeeae Kim. Initially, she started piano through the encouragement of her parents in which she enjoyed, but ultimately decided to continue because she enjoyed playing and the comfort and stress-relief playing piano provided. Starting competitions when she was in elementary school, she placed 2nd at the US International Open Music Competition, 1st and 3rd at Youth Focus Competition, and 2nd at the US International Open Music Competition more recently. Outside of piano, Hailey enjoys dancing and has been dancing since she was 3, receiving awards at prestigious ballet competitions including Top 12 at YAGP. Hailey is also a member and an incoming officer on the Golden Spurs dance team at Cupertino. In 2022, she received three national champion titles with her team, received an All-American title at USA Camp, and placed third at Nationals in 2023. Not only does she love to play piano and dance, Hailey actively participates in school activities with leadership positions. She has served on class council since her freshman year and is excited to serve as junior vice president next year. 

Juno Hong is a freshman attending Lynbrook High School. He started playing piano 3 years ago, during quarantine. Piano has been a good way to find comfort in the midst of covid, quarantine, and the isolation from outside world. With piano teacher Jeeae Kim’s guidance, he started taking lessons through Zoom meetings and still enjoys piano by learning new songs. Juno has strong passion to interact and help people in need. He is also involved in various student council activities in school, acting as Vice President to lead events like homecoming and school rallies. He also spares his free time for volunteer work to teach younger ones. He is happy to have this Benefit Concert as a chance to provide help to the people in need. Outside of piano, he enjoys playing badminton, swimming, and reading.

Katie Yang, a 9th-grader at Innovation Academy, began her piano journey at the age of 5 with renowned teacher Jeeae Kim in San Jose. At just 6 years old, she achieved 1st place in her debut competition and went on to win numerous prizes at the US Open Competition, multiple first places at the US International Competition, appeared at the Bach Jr. Festival, and performed as the finalist at the San Jose International Piano Competition. After moving to Georgia, her dedication in music continued with Dr. Wada. She placed 2nd and 3rd at the GA Music Teachers' Association State auditions in consecutive years, and as a 1st place winner, she performed at the Romantic Impressionistic Piano Competition winner's recital. Notably, she triumphed as the 1st place at the GMTA State piano concerto competition, performing Prokofiev's piano concerto No. 1. Katie is honored to be a member of the Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra serving as a pianist as well as an alternate pianist for the Atlanta Youth Symphony Orchestra. In addition to her musical endeavors, Katie nurtures a deep passion for coding and data science, which led her to participate in the Beaver Works Saturday program and a MLH hackathon at GA Tech. Katie also engaged in fencing at the IA fencing club. 

Shaun Park is an 11th grader that attends Leigh High School. He started playing piano at the age of 6 with piano teacher Jeeae Kim. He first started piano via suggestion from parents, in which he found his enjoyment in playing piano and has improved significantly throughout the years. He has gotten many awards, which includes winning Grand Champion in his debut competition at the Youth Focus competition. He also got 2nd place in the US International Open Music Competition BAMA along with 3 3rd place awards, and many other awards. He also participated at the Emerging in Artist Recital. Aside from piano, he has also been playing the Trombone for 5 years (self-taught) and plays for his school’s Jazz Band. He also enjoys Art and aspires to be an Automotive Designer as his career, and he also plays for his school’s football team.