Sumi Kwon, a native Korean, is currently a professor at Korea National University of Education. She has earned her Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees in Piano Performance from Manhattan School of Music, as well as an additional Doctor of Music Education and Master of Music Education degrees from T.C. Columbia University in New York, N.Y. She graduated Ewha Womans University for Bachelor of Music, in Seoul, Korea.
She showed her extraordinary talent as a pianist, starting with winning prizes at numerous piano competitions such as a special prize at the Artist International Competition(1997, NY, USA), a semi-finalist at the S. Stravinsky Piano Competition(1999, NJ, USA), and the Grand Prize at the 5th Korean Piano Society Competition(2004, Seoul, Korea).
While studying abroad, she participated in and performed at the Eugene Istomin Master Class (Hubbard Hall, New York), International de Piano Music Festival (Tenerife, Spain), New York Carnegie Hall debut recital, Young Artist invited recitals (Merkin Concert Hall, New York) and other prominent concert halls abroad showed active performance. Even after returning to Korea, she continued her ambitious performance as a pianist, including a number of piano solo & duo recitals.
At the same time, as a music educator, various studies have been conducted, including music-oriented convergence education, teacher training program development, piano pedagogy curriculum development, remote music education, reading music & eye movements and so on. In particular, the 16-volume "Magic Finger Piano" method series released in 2019 through a long seven-year research period is positively evaluated as developing Korean piano methods that reflect modern and international trends in music education, which have relied on foreign methods.
She has had article published in the Korean Journal of Research in Music Education, Korean Journal of Arts Education, Korean Musicological Society, Journal of Music Education Science, Brian, Digital & Learning, and American Music Teachers. She has also presented her research at international, national and regional conferences such as the College Music Society(CMS) International Conference, the Asian-Pacific Symposium for Music Education Research(APSMER) International Conference, MUSICUM20 SYMPOSIUM, NCKP, the Korean Music Education Society and so on.
Professor Sumi Kwon, a music educator and pianist, is currently the editor-in-chief of the Korean Journal of Research in Music Education(SCOPUS-indexed), a board member of Korean Music Education Society(KMES), Korean Arts Education Society, the Korean Piano Association, Korea Art Teacher Education Associatio(KATEA), and International Society for Music Education (ISME)
