Cellist Joanne Yesol Choi wins $30K Virginia Parker Prize
The Korean Canadian musician was one of CBC Music's 30 hot Canadian classical musicians under 30 in 2022
Korean Canadian cellist Joanne Yesol Choi is the 2025 recipient of the Virginia Parker Prize, a $30,000 award given to a conductor, classical singer or instrumentalist below the age of 32 "who demonstrates outstanding talent, musicianship and artistic merit, and who makes a valuable contribution to artistic life in Canada and internationally."
Choi, who is based in Toronto, is a founding member of the Dior Quartet, which won the 2023 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, took home silver at the 2021 Chesapeake Chamber Music Competition and earned bronze at the 2019 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. The string ensemble has performed at Carnegie Hall, Koerner Hall and more, and was an ensemble in residence at the Royal Conservatory of Music's Glenn Gould School.
In a post on Instagram, Choi wrote that it is the first time in 26 years that a Korean Canadian is receiving the prize. She shared, "Winning this prize is one of the most defining moments of my career — to be recognized not just for where I've been, but for where I hope to go, is profoundly meaningful."
Choi was one of CBC Music's 30 hot Canadian classical musicians under 30 in 2022. At the time, she reflected on the quartet's excitement around participating in the Banff International String Quartet Competition.
Aside from performing in the quartet, Choi is also the founder and executive director of Solegio Arts, a nonprofit aiming to improve access to classical music education, and Art of Four Chamber Music Program, an educational string quartet program.
Past winners of the Virginia Parker Prize include violinist and violist James Ehnes (1997), conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin (2000) and conductor Naomi Woo (2022).
