Jisue Choi, a seventeen-year-old girl, is a senior at University High School. She has been studying the piano since she was five years old with her father, Dr. Kyungsun Choi. She has also been playing the violin since the age of six. Her violin teachers include Dr. Laura Tagawa, Mr. Rollin Medcalf, and Dr. Stella Kim.

Jisue performed Piano Concerto No. 5 by Camille Saint-Saëns with the Civic Orchestra of Tucson in 2018 and another Saint-Saëns work, “Africa: Fantasie for Piano and Orchestra,” with Tucson Philharmonia Youth Orchestra (TPYO) in 2019. She was scheduled to play Piano Concerto No. 2 by Edward MacDowell with the Civic Orchestra of Tucson in May 2020, but the was canceled because of Covid-19. Recently, she performed Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 with TPYO in 2021.

She won many local competitions including the Civic Orchestra of Tucson’s Young Artists’ Competition (First place in 2020 and 2022), Tucson Philharmonia Youth Orchestra Scholarship Competition (Gold Medal in 2020 and 2021), Tucson Music Teachers Association Merit Scholarship Auditions (First Place in 2019), among others.

As a pianist, Jisue has performed at numerous venues: Tucson Music Teachers Association (TMTA) KUDOS Recitals, TMTA Command Performances, TMTA Barnes and Noble Recitals, and TMTA Ensemble Concerts. She attended the Arizona Piano Institute Summer Festival in 2016 and 2017, where she studied with Prof. Elizabeth Pridonoff, an Emeritus Professor at the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. She was invited to perform a solo recital at the rising young artists series of St. Philip’s in the Hills in 2020.

Jisue joined Tucson Philharmonia Youth Orchestra as a violinist in 2017 and enjoys large ensemble performances as a string player. She participated in workshops with the LA Philharmonic Orchestra, San Diego Symphony orchestra, and the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. In 2018 Jisue performed Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra as one of chosen TPYO performers in the TPYO-TSO side-by-side performance.

Jisue loves reading books, watching movies, and listening to both Classical music and Pop music. She earned her Taekwondo Black belt when she was ten years old and she enjoys other sports. She hopes to double major in psychology and music, preparing to be a psychiatrist and professional musician in the future.

She will perform movement 1 of Prokofiev’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra at the Pops concert in Green Valley on Saturday, April 30, 2022.