..
Pianist, composer, and arranger MiJin Woo began her first piano lessons at the age of six. Having won the second prize at the Sun-Hwa Competition, she continued her studies at Sun-Hwa Arts Middle and High School. She learned to step into the technical aspects of music in these early years.
"At that time, my life was full of passion for classical music," She says. "It was my typical everyday life to discuss Beethoven sonatas or Chopin Etudes all day."
In the summer 1995, she spent her vacation studying Chopin and Bach in Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Russia. "I still remember how my teacher there changed my playing in just one lesson, it was like magic. I knew she would become my role model as an educator throughout my life," says MiJin.Through college life from 1997 to 2001, she had explored various fields of music - getting diploma in music business program, MIDI special program, and ballet accompaniment program. It was also during this time that she started to be interested in Jazz. "My first experience of listening to Jazz was Pat Methney, followed by Oscar Peterson. There was a weekly Jazz club meeting on campus, which had greatly broadened my musical horizon," she says.In February 2001, MiJin earned her Bachelor's degree in Piano Performance from Ewha Womans University in South Korea. After graduation, she worked not only as an educator but also as a manager at Ewha Institute of Music.Receiving World Scholarship Award, MiJin came to the United States in 2005 to study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. She had five recitals at Berklee including Berklee Performance Center concert, which presented her originals.
MiJin says, "That concert consisted of Latin and Funk. It was all about experiment. I always feel so excited when I am doing this kind of mixing work."She won the Alex Ulanowski Award for Composition in the Harmony Department on March 13, 2007. She studied with piano greats JoAnne Brackeen and Laszlo Gardony as well as Joe Lovano and Hal Crook.
She graduated from Berklee with Summa cum laude in 2007.
Now, she is going to Manhattan school of music on Master's degree in Jazz Performance. She is studying with Jason Moran and Phil Markowitz.
