Korean guitarist, Bokyung Byun, is an active solo and chamber musician residing in Los Angeles. She has been hailed by her peers as a guitarist who ¡°performs with fleet-fingered, delicate precision, and expressiveness.¡± (Julia Crowe)
Born in 1994, in Seoul, Korea, Bokyung began playing guitar at six. At the age of eleven, she had her first full-length solo recital in Gwangju, Korea. In the following years, she went on numerous concert tours in Korea, receiving enthusiastic response from the Korean audiences. Bokyung¡¯s YouTube video of Recuerdos de la Alhambra marked five million views, bringing international attention to the newly rising guitarist. By her teen years, she had won competitions held by Guitar Foundation of America, the Korea Guitar Association, the Embassy of Spain, and the Music Association of Korea. Bokyung¡¯s recent wins include Philadelphia International Competition, the Tuesday Morning Music Club Classical Guitar Competition, and Montreal International Classical Guitar Competition.
Bokyung moved to the United States in 2010 to study with William Kanengiser of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, and in 2011, she moved again to New York City where she entered The Juilliard School at the age of sixteen to study under the tutelage of Sharon Isbin. She was the first guitarist ever to be admitted to both Juilliard¡¯s undergraduate guitar program and accelerated Bachelor/Master degree program. She is now pursuing a doctoral degree at University of Southern California with Scott Tennant.