Pianist and composer Hyung-ki Joo has appeared as a soloist and in chamber ensembles worldwide, with works performed by such renowned orchestras as the New York Philharmonic and London Philharmonic.
Enrolled at age 10 at the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey, England, Joo studied composition with Simon Parkin and Malcolm Singer. It was while attending the music academy that he and eventual comic partner violinist Aleksey Igudesman discovered a shared passion for Mahler and Monty Python, interests that helped inspire the tandems’ work in concert comedy.
Joo made his musical debut at Barbican Hall, with the Warsaw Sinfonia conducted by Sir Yehudi Menuhin. The Grand Prize winner of the Stravinsky International Piano Competition, Joo has worked with Academy® Award winning composer Vangelis. Rock legend Billy Joel chose him to arrange and record “Fantasies and Delusions,” a classical album of Joel solo piano pieces that was No. 1 on the Billboard charts. He has performed at the White House and co-founded a piano trio with violinist Rafal Zambrzycki-Payne and cellist Thomas Carroll.
He is one-half of the wickedly inventive Igudesman & Joo, who use pop culture, comedy, and slapstick to transform concert stages into musical funhouses. The pair’s uproarious sketches have attracted a wide YouTube following, with some 40 million views. Joo has appeared in several films including, “Pianomania,” “Noseland,” and “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Classical Music” and performed with such classical heavyweights as Joshua Bell, Gidon Kremer and Emanuel Ax and actors Roger Moore and John Malkovich.