Tony Cho

Piano

A former vocal arts coaching staff at The Juilliard School, pianist Tony Cho is currently an opera coach at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.  His professional career as an assistant conductor and coach/pianist includes engagements with Aspen Opera Theater Center, Central City Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Juilliard Opera Center, Long Beach Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, Sarasota Opera, Tulsa Opera, and Virginia Opera.  He has also been on the faculty of the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Land of Enchantment Opera Institute, and Taos Opera Institute. 

His substantial résumé includes a repertoire of more than 60 operas, including the world premiere of Guo Wenjing's Poet Li Bai; the American premieres of H.K. Gruber's Gloria: A Pig's Tale and K.A. Hartmann's Wachsfigurenkabinett; and the West Coast premieres of Shostakovich's Moscow, Cherrytown, and Wagner's Das Liebesverbot as a part of the Los Angeles Ring Festival. In addition to his hands-on work with the operatic productions, he has served as music director of Central City Opera's Opera à la carte, Glimmerglass Opera's American Young Artists Concert Tour, Hawaii Opera Theatre's Opera Residency, Virginia Opera's Spectrum Resident Artists, and as program and music director of Sarasota Opera's Studio Artists.

He has performed concerts in such notable venues as Weill Hall in New York City, Meany Hall in Seattle, Harris Concert Hall in Aspen, Doris Duke Theatre at Honolulu Museum of Art, Zipper Hall in Los Angeles, and at many others in the United States and abroad. His performances have been featured live on KHPR in Honolulu and KVOD in Denver. He has also been a guest artist at many music festivals, including El Festival Internacional de Jóvenes Pianístas and the Italian Art Week Festival in Asunción, Paraguay.

Originally from South Korea, he earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance from the University of Washington; a Master’s degree from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music; and a Bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University with a minor in Spanish Literature.

Prior to Oberlin, he served as a principal coach at the University of Southern California’s Thornton Opera and faculty vocal coach at Chapman University (2007-2015) and an associate coach at The Juilliard School (2005-2007).