Steeped in musical tradition yet eager to forge new ways, Korean-American pianist Seoyon MacDonald enjoys a varied and innovative career. She is drawn equally to solo and collaborative music-making and has appeared on concert stages in the United States, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, and Korea. She is a co-founder of the Boston Art Song Society, one of the pioneering art song companies in the United States, and is an active vocal coach and pianist currently based in Los Angeles.
Ms. MacDonald’s musicological and entrepreneurial projects reach in many directions. Her most recent adventure was releasing her debut single album– publishing the first digital recording of an unfinished Shostakovich prelude and fugue in C-sharp minor, recently reconstructed by Krzystof Meyer. As a Hollywood recording pianist, she participated in scoring sessions of music by Kris Bowers for King Richard, Will Smith’s new tennis movie. Currently, Ms. MacDonald is writing a book on the legacy of collaborative pianists in the United States.
Highlights of her performance appearances include acclaimed radio stations such as Classical California KUSC and WQXR New York, as well as prestigious stages like the Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, and Alice Tully Hall of Lincoln Center. In February 2020, Ms. MacDonald performed Steven Mackey's "Beautiful Passing" with the Juilliard Orchestra at Carnegie Hall conducted by David Robertson. As a member of the Juilliard Orchestra, Ms. MacDonald made her debut as an orchestral pianist, performing Copland Symphony No. 3 under the baton of Carlos Miguel Prieto at Alice Tully Hall in December 2019. Ms. MacDonald was also a member of the contemporary ensemble AXIOM at the Juilliard School.
In 2019, she was selected with tenor James Ley to participate in the inaugural season of the Song Studio at Carnegie by Renée Fleming. During the summer of 2019, she lived and studied in Florence, Italy, as a recipient of the Lucrezia Boris Grant and a language scholarship from the Italian Cultural Institute of New York. Ms. MacDonald was invited to be a vocal collaborative piano fellow at the Aspen Music Festival 2018. Other festival appearances include performances at the Franz Schubert Institut in Austria and SongFest at The Colburn School.
As an avid chamber musician, Ms. MacDonald founded the Northwestern Trio in 2012, which won the MTNA Chamber Competition Minnesota state division and received Runner-up at the Regional Competition. As a soloist, she was the youngest winner of the University of Northwestern – Saint Paul concerto competition performing Beethoven’s Concerto in C minor alongside the university’s orchestra in 2011.
Ms. MacDonald was previously a staff pianist at New England Conservatory, a rehearsal pianist at Boston Ballet, and a choir pianist for the MIT Women's Chorale. She has also served as a staff pianist at the MacPhail Center for Music and worked with the Minnesota Opera Summer Outreach Camp, Opera Brittenica and Lowell House Opera at Harvard University.
A native of South Korea, Ms. MacDonald began her piano studies at the age of 5. In her teenage years, she attended the No. 2 Russian Music School in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, under the tutelage of Olga Petrovna and later the Basetovsky Music Institution in Almaty, Kazakhstan. She holds a Graduate Diploma in Collaborative Piano from the Juilliard School, a Master of Music degree in Collaborative Piano from New England Conservatory and a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance, magna cum laude, from the University of Northwestern – Saint Paul. Currently, she is a DMA candidate and Teaching Assistant in Keyboard Collaborative Arts at the University of Southern California.
Steeped in musical tradition yet eager to forge new ways, Korean-American pianist Seoyon MacDonald enjoys a varied and innovative career. She is drawn equally to solo and collaborative music-making and has appeared on concert stages in the United States, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, and Korea. She is a co-founder of the Boston Art Song Society, one of the pioneering art song companies in the United States, and is an active vocal coach and pianist currently based in Los Angeles.
Ms. MacDonald’s musicological and entrepreneurial projects reach in many directions. Her most recent adventure was releasing her debut single album– publishing the first digital recording of an unfinished Shostakovich prelude and fugue in C-sharp minor, recently reconstructed by Krzystof Meyer. As a Hollywood recording pianist, she participated in scoring sessions of music by Kris Bowers for King Richard, Will Smith’s new tennis movie. Currently, Ms. MacDonald is writing a book on the legacy of collaborative pianists in the United States.
Highlights of her performance appearances include acclaimed radio stations such as Classical California KUSC and WQXR New York, as well as prestigious stages like the Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, and Alice Tully Hall of Lincoln Center. In February 2020, Ms. MacDonald performed Steven Mackey's "Beautiful Passing" with the Juilliard Orchestra at Carnegie Hall conducted by David Robertson. As a member of the Juilliard Orchestra, Ms. MacDonald made her debut as an orchestral pianist, performing Copland Symphony No. 3 under the baton of Carlos Miguel Prieto at Alice Tully Hall in December 2019. Ms. MacDonald was also a member of the contemporary ensemble AXIOM at the Juilliard School.
In 2019, she was selected with tenor James Ley to participate in the inaugural season of the Song Studio at Carnegie by Renée Fleming. During the summer of 2019, she lived and studied in Florence, Italy, as a recipient of the Lucrezia Boris Grant and a language scholarship from the Italian Cultural Institute of New York. Ms. MacDonald was invited to be a vocal collaborative piano fellow at the Aspen Music Festival 2018. Other festival appearances include performances at the Franz Schubert Institut in Austria and SongFest at The Colburn School.
As an avid chamber musician, Ms. MacDonald founded the Northwestern Trio in 2012, which won the MTNA Chamber Competition Minnesota state division and received Runner-up at the Regional Competition. As a soloist, she was the youngest winner of the University of Northwestern – Saint Paul concerto competition performing Beethoven’s Concerto in C minor alongside the university’s orchestra in 2011.
Ms. MacDonald was previously a staff pianist at New England Conservatory, a rehearsal pianist at Boston Ballet, and a choir pianist for the MIT Women's Chorale. She has also served as a staff pianist at the MacPhail Center for Music and worked with the Minnesota Opera Summer Outreach Camp, Opera Brittenica and Lowell House Opera at Harvard University.
A native of South Korea, Ms. MacDonald began her piano studies at the age of 5. In her teenage years, she attended the No. 2 Russian Music School in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, under the tutelage of Olga Petrovna and later the Basetovsky Music Institution in Almaty, Kazakhstan. She holds a Graduate Diploma in Collaborative Piano from the Juilliard School, a Master of Music degree in Collaborative Piano from New England Conservatory and a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance, magna cum laude, from the University of Northwestern – Saint Paul. Currently, she is a DMA candidate and Teaching Assistant in Keyboard Collaborative Arts at the University of Southern California.
Steeped in musical tradition yet eager to forge new ways, Korean-American pianist Seoyon MacDonald enjoys a varied and innovative career. She is drawn equally to solo and collaborative music-making and has appeared on concert stages in the United States, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, and Korea. She is a co-founder of the Boston Art Song Society, one of the pioneering art song companies in the United States, and is an active vocal coach and pianist currently based in Los Angeles.
Ms. MacDonald’s musicological and entrepreneurial projects reach in many directions. Her most recent adventure was releasing her debut single album– publishing the first digital recording of an unfinished Shostakovich prelude and fugue in C-sharp minor, recently reconstructed by Krzystof Meyer. As a Hollywood recording pianist, she participated in scoring sessions of music by Kris Bowers for King Richard, Will Smith’s new tennis movie. Currently, Ms. MacDonald is writing a book on the legacy of collaborative pianists in the United States.
Highlights of her performance appearances include acclaimed radio stations such as Classical California KUSC and WQXR New York, as well as prestigious stages like the Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, and Alice Tully Hall of Lincoln Center. In February 2020, Ms. MacDonald performed Steven Mackey's "Beautiful Passing" with the Juilliard Orchestra at Carnegie Hall conducted by David Robertson. As a member of the Juilliard Orchestra, Ms. MacDonald made her debut as an orchestral pianist, performing Copland Symphony No. 3 under the baton of Carlos Miguel Prieto at Alice Tully Hall in December 2019. Ms. MacDonald was also a member of the contemporary ensemble AXIOM at the Juilliard School.
In 2019, she was selected with tenor James Ley to participate in the inaugural season of the Song Studio at Carnegie by Renée Fleming. During the summer of 2019, she lived and studied in Florence, Italy, as a recipient of the Lucrezia Boris Grant and a language scholarship from the Italian Cultural Institute of New York. Ms. MacDonald was invited to be a vocal collaborative piano fellow at the Aspen Music Festival 2018. Other festival appearances include performances at the Franz Schubert Institut in Austria and SongFest at The Colburn School.
As an avid chamber musician, Ms. MacDonald founded the Northwestern Trio in 2012, which won the MTNA Chamber Competition Minnesota state division and received Runner-up at the Regional Competition. As a soloist, she was the youngest winner of the University of Northwestern – Saint Paul concerto competition performing Beethoven’s Concerto in C minor alongside the university’s orchestra in 2011.
Ms. MacDonald was previously a staff pianist at New England Conservatory, a rehearsal pianist at Boston Ballet, and a choir pianist for the MIT Women's Chorale. She has also served as a staff pianist at the MacPhail Center for Music and worked with the Minnesota Opera Summer Outreach Camp, Opera Brittenica and Lowell House Opera at Harvard University.
A native of South Korea, Ms. MacDonald began her piano studies at the age of 5. In her teenage years, she attended the No. 2 Russian Music School in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, under the tutelage of Olga Petrovna and later the Basetovsky Music Institution in Almaty, Kazakhstan. She holds a Graduate Diploma in Collaborative Piano from the Juilliard School, a Master of Music degree in Collaborative Piano from New England Conservatory and a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance, magna cum laude, from the University of Northwestern – Saint Paul. Currently, she is a DMA candidate and Teaching Assistant in Keyboard Collaborative Arts at the University of Southern California.