Andrew Joon Choi is a Korean American conductor whose work spans opera, the symphonic repertoire, and contemporary music. Recent highlights include serving as Assistant Conductor for the world premiere production of Francisco Coll’s opera Enemigo del Pueblo at Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia and Teatro Real in Madrid during the 2025–2026 season. In June 2027, he makes his guest conducting debut with the Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier, leading a program exploring Korean, French, and Hungarian folk music traditions featuring acclaimed pansori singer Ko Yeong-yeol, haegeum virtuoso Soo Yeon Lyuh, and prize-winning soprano Hwanyoo Lee.

Selected Engagements

Andrew Joon Choi has conducted the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Basel Sinfonietta, Kammerorchester Basel, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Sinfonieorchester Liechtenstein, Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, Filharmonie Hradec Králové, Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester Mannheim, Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Pazardzhik Symphony Orchestra, Rousse Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Illinois Symphony Orchestra. He has also appeared with the Gstaad Festival Orchestra and LEAD! Festival Orchestra, and has conducted productions at Josef Kajetán Tyl Theatre, Staatstheater Cottbus, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, and Teatro Real.

Career Highlights

From 2018 until January 2020, Choi served as Assistant Conductor of the Basel Sinfonietta, one of Europe’s leading contemporary music ensembles and internationally recognized for presenting seasons devoted exclusively to contemporary repertoire.

Highlights of the 2019–2021 seasons included his debut with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra at Wien Modern, where he appeared alongside Baldur Brönnimann at the Musikverein Vienna. He also conducted the Basel Sinfonietta and the Sinfonieorchester Liechtenstein, collaborating with pianist Claire Huangci and the Janoska Ensemble at the Vaduz Classic Festival in 2021.

In 2022, Choi conducted the Swiss premiere of Olga Neuwirth’s Die Stadt ohne Juden with the Sinfonieorchester Basel. That same year, he participated in the LEAD! Music Festival in Fiskars, Finland, working with Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Hannu Lintu, Dalia Stasevska, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. In 2023, he made his United States debut with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra.

Education and Awards

Andrew Joon Choi graduated from the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, where he studied orchestral conducting with Johannes Schlaefli. Prior to moving to Europe, he studied conducting at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore under Marin Alsop, Gustav Meier, and Markand Thakar.

He is the recipient of the Neeme Järvi Prize at the 2018 Gstaad Music Festival & Academy, won Second Prize at the 2019 National Radio Television Albania (NRTA) Conducting Competition, and was awarded Third Prize at the 2021 Ionel Perlea International Opera Conducting Competition in Romania.