28-year-old violinist Ji Soo Choi has died

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Violinist Ji Soo Choi has died at the age of 28. She passed away at a hospital in Oakville, ON, Canada, surrounded by friends and family, after a long struggle with lymphoma. A memorial service was held on 29 July 2023.

Born in 1994, Choi began her violin studies in South Korea after her mother bought her a violin for her third birthday. Competition success followed at the age of ten, when she won the Han Kook Il Bo Music Competition. After moving to Canada, she won numerous competitions, including the Taylor Academy Concerto Competition in 2006 and 2007 and the Oakville Chamber Orchestra Concerto Competition in 2014 . At the age of 18, she was the grand prize winner of the Canadian Music Competition. In the same year, she was named as one of Canada’s ’30 under 30 Top Classical Musicians of 2013’ by CBC Radio Canada.

Choi performed as a soloist at the Banff Summer Music Festival in 2014 and led the baroque group in 2016, leading her to join the Juilliard School’s Principal Period-Instrument Ensemble. She performed with the Brott Music Festival’s National Academy Orchestra (NAO) of Canada in 2021.

’Her loss is not only a loss to her family and those who loved her but to the entire world of music,’ said NAO orchestra manager Megan Jones. ’Ji Soo was a popular and devoted colleague… She always played with profound passion and joy.’

Choi received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School, where she studied with Ida Kavafian and Daniel Phillips. She continued her studies at the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music with Paul Kantor and Erika Raum. 

She performed on the c.1830-1850 ’Eckhardt-Grammate, Joachim’ Georges Chanot I violin, as one of the winners of the Musical instrument Bank Competition by the Canada Council for the Arts.

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