August Baik, piano

Meet August

August performs on Show 424.

August Baik (piano), 17, is from Seattle, Washington and studies piano with Nino Merabishvili. August believes that music is a universal language and uses it for dialogue with himself and the world. He has appeared as a soloist with the Virtuosi Bruneses Orchestra (Perugia, Italy), Cascade Symphony Orchestra and Bellevue Symphony.

Among his recent achievements: first place winner of The Sherer International Violin and Piano Competition, King FM Young Artist Awards, Golden Key of Vienna Music Festival (Austria), PNW Piano Competition, Russian Chamber Music Competition, Great Masters International Piano Competition, and Chopin Foundation Northwest Council Competition. He has been awarded first place on three different occasions at the Seattle Bach Festival. His recordings of Berg’s Piano Sonata, Op. 1 (selected for national ‘Song of the Day’ on October 4, 2022), and Chopin’s Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35, I. Grave-Doppio movimento can be found on NPR Music’s Live Sessions.

August is a self-taught composer. He is once again selected to participate in the 2022/23 Seattle Symphony Merriman-Ross Family Young Composers Workshop where he will present a piece for a full orchestra to be performed by Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall.

August is currently deepening his love for chamber music with Seattle Chamber Music Society’s Academy. He is part of a piano trio under the primary guidance of Noah Geller and masterclasses with pianist Anne Marie McDermott and other renowned musicians.

August has participated in numerous music festivals: Vivace Music Festival, Global Piano Summit, Chicago International Music Festival, Seattle Piano Institute, and MusicFest Perugia where he had masterclasses with Ilana Vered, Jerome Lowenthal, Asaf Zohar, Markus Groh, Dmitri Novgorodsky, Wayne Weng and Gerardo Teissonnière.

August is a Monika Meyers Clowes Memorial Award and Ida Zelikovsky Green Award Recipient.