Teacher Profile: Hyunjung Julie Choi

About Hyunjung Julie Choi

Hyunjung Julie Choi is a percussionist and teacher currently based out of Washington, D.C. She has been hailed as a dynamic and versatile performer and her music has been praised as possessing “sensitivity, skill, and tremendous energy” by Jacob Nissly, Principal Percussionist of the San Francisco Symphony. Her goal as a musician is to find ways to present both complex and accessible music in mediums which connect with audiences in understandable and exciting ways.

Mrs. Choi is originally from South Korea and started playing Piano at age 4 and Percussion at age 7 and moved to the United States to enlarge her experience and broaden her knowledge at age 19. She has performed with numerous orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout the United States and South Korea, including the San Francisco Symphony, Ensemble for These Times, Camerata New York Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival Orchestra, Eastern Music Festival Orchestra, and the Stroke Percussion Ensemble. She has also premiered solo and chamber music works with professional musicians, such as her premiere performance of Boreal Silk for vibraphone solo by Alexandre Ozuounoff in February 2021, and the world premieres of Shimmer by Vivian Fung, and Four-Vectors by David Garner in April 2022.

Mrs. Choi holds a Masters Degree and Professional Studies Certificate from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where she studied with Jacob Nissly, and Ed Stephan. She also received her Bachelor’s Degree from the Manhattan School of Music where she studied with Chris Lamb, Duncan Patton, She-e Wu, and Kyle Zerna. She is currently a substitute percussionist at San Francisco Symphony, Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and New World Symphony.

Teaching Percussion and Piano is a passion for Mrs. Choi, and she is versed in all styles and genres. Setting strong technical foundations is an area of focus in her instruction, but also, having fun with the material and learning process along the way is key. Her students develop a fluent understanding of the language of music and reading & interpreting notation through her lessons, and this opens a new world of understanding on the instrument. For Mrs. Choi, sharing her musical gifts and ideas with her students is an honor. It's a joy for her to connect musically with her student, and she strongly believes that every student has unique potential and artistic capacity within them. It's her mission to help them uncover it!