Elaine Kwon

Prize-winning pianist Elaine Kwon made her orchestral debut with the Washington-Idaho Symphony at age 15 and has since performed solo, concerto, and chamber music concerts throughout the US, Canada and Asia. She tours regularly as part of the Hebert/Kwon piano duo, and has been broadcast on public television and radio in the US, Canada and Asia. She was a Visiting Professor of Piano at the Conservatory of Music in Wuhan, People's Republic of China and toured throughout China, performing duo piano concerts and teaching master classes with pianist Sandra Hebert. They are regular guests on WGBH's "Classical Performances". Elaine received a Doctorate of Musical Arts with highest honors from Boston University; Master of Music from New England Conservatory with highest honors and the Distinction in Performance Award; Bachelor of Music from University of Texas in Austin with highest honors and the Academic All-American award.

Presently, she is an Affiliated Artist in the Music Department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, where she teaches piano lab and piano performance.

Elaine holds a second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and is five-time US National Tae Kwon Do Champion in Traditional and Creative Forms (1994, 1997-2000). As a member of a National exhibition team, Elaine performed in USO Shows for US soldiers stationed in Korea. She was named one of Boston's "Most Alluring Women" by Boston Magazine, Chanel, and Filene's and one of "Ten Toughest Bostonians" by The Improper Bostonian Magazine. Elaine was chosen to represent Nike in the 2003 Asia campaign as a kickboxer and was featured in Vogue, Elle, InStyle and other magazines, numerous health and fitness ads, and appeared in the TV show, Uncle Morty's Dub Shack, The Black Pearl Movie, Psionics, and many martial arts-related films and videos. Most recently she hosted an action-adventure TV show called, "The Lounge--Shaken 'n Stirred" on ImaginAsian TV, which aired in New York during the summer of 2006.

Elaine traveled around the world for a year and a half before making her home in New York City, where she continues to explore ways to combine and communicate her passion for music, martial arts, sports, travel, cooking and optimal living.