Violinist
Esther Yoo took up her instrument at age four, and gave her first performance of a concerto at eight. In 2006, she won first prize in the junior division of the International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition, and she received an award from the European Union of Music Competitions for Youth. In 2010, as the youngest participant in the competition's history, she won the International Sibelius Violin Competition. Her teachers have included Zakhar Bron, Leonid Kerbel,
Ana Chumachenco, and
Augustin Dumay.
Yoo has performed with major orchestras around the world, including the
Philharmonia Orchestra, the
BBC Symphony Orchestra, the
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra,
The Hallé, the
Orchestre National de Lille, the
Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, the
Gävle Symphony Orchestra, the
Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra, the RTÉ Symphony Orchestra, the
Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the
Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia, the
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the
Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, the
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the
Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and the KBS Symphony Orchestra. In chamber music,
Yoo regularly performs with pianist Zhang Zuo, and she has given recitals in London, Liverpool, Oslo, and Istanbul.
Yoo records for Deutsche Grammophon.