Masterclass Composition

Eun-Hwa Cho was born in Busan, South Korea. After completing her studies at Seoul National University, she continued her education at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin, majoring in composition and music theory. She is currently a professor of composition at the same school. Her music encompasses a broad spectrum of styles rooted in both Western music and traditional Korean music. By exploring the potential of traditional Korean instruments and reinterpreting traditional music in a new context, she has developed a personal musical language that bridges the creative worlds of East and West without overshadowing her own tradition. In collaboration with artists from various disciplines—such as painting, sculpture, and dance—she continually expands her artistic horizons. Eun-Hwa Cho’s compositions have been performed at numerous concerts and festivals, including the Ultraschall Festival Berlin, the Witten Days for New Chamber Music, and the Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music.

Among the orchestras and ensembles that have performed his works are the Modern Art Sextet, the Ensemble Modern, the Ensemble InterContemporain, the Ensemble recherche, the Arditti Quartet, the Tokyo Sinfonietta, the WDR Orchestra, the SWR Orchestra, the DRP Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Belgique, the State Hermitage Orchestra of St. Petersburg, as well as the Seoul Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and the KBS Symphony Orchestra. She has been honored with major awards for her work both in Korea and internationally, including the 2008 Busoni Composition Prize from the Berlin Academy of Arts, first prize at the Queen Elisabeth International Composition Competition in Belgium (also in 2008), and the Grand Prize at the Korea Composition Award in 2014, in both categories—Korean tradition and Western music.