Bio/graphic
Pianist Choo Choo Hu has been recognized as a musician of inordinate versatility. Praised by The Bethlehem Morning Call as “one of the finest musicians I’ve ever heard…her technique was as solid and smooth as could be wished…in addition, she managed to bring out the richness of Schubert’s music with impeccable phrasing and tempi.”
Choo Choo has performed across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia as a soloist, chamber musician, and collaborative pianist. Always striving for versatility and new challenges, she has shared the stage with everyone from the Imani Winds to John Legend. Recent solo engagements include appearances with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Spokane Symphony. As an orchestral musician, she has played with the Atlanta Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Prince George’s Philharmonic, and York Symphony. Her solo and chamber music performances have been broadcast on NPR’s Performance Today, WYPR in Baltimore, and WABE in Atlanta. As a repetiteur, she has worked with the Atlanta Opera, as well as with the Prague Summer Nights Opera Festival in such venues as the Mozarteum in Salzburg and various palaces throughout the Czech Republic.
An avid proponent of contemporary music, Choo Choo is a founding member of the Atlanta-based new music collective ensemble vim, now entering its sixth season. She has played for the contemporary opera workshop NANOworks, was a core member of the SONAR New Music Ensemble, and has performed alongside members of Alarm Will Sound and the International Contemporary Ensemble. Her guest artist residencies include the Levine School of Music, McDaniel College, Washington University, and East Central College, as well as the Prague Summer Nights Festival, the Bethlehem Music Festival, the Heifetz International Music Institute, and the Wintergreen Performing Arts Festival. Never one to shy away from a crossover opportunity, she is also a founding member of the Disney rock band Godmother.
Born in China and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Choo Choo began taking lessons at the age of five with pianist John Sun. She made her concerto debut at age twelve with the Washington University Symphony Orchestra. By the time she was sixteen she had already accumulated top prizes at competitions throughout the United States such as the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition, the Biennial Lee Competition, the Washington University Young Artists Concerto Competition, and the St. Louis Symphony Youth Concerto Competition. At age seventeen she enrolled at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, studying with renowned musicians Leon Fleisher and Brian Ganz. While at Peabody, Choo Choo was the recipient of the Albert and Rosa Silverman Memorial Scholarship, the Yale Gordon Chamber Music Fellowship, and the Grace Clagett Ranney Prize in Chamber Music.
Choo Choo currently resides in Atlanta with her husband, where they live their best DINKWAD lives (Dual Income No Kids With A Dog.) She loves nothing more than to host wine and music reading parties, and dreams of one day opening a chamber music festival/farming co-op somewhere in the mountains.
