Born in South Korea, Somi began her piano studies at the age of 8 and moved to New Zealand in 1997. Somi graduated with a Master of Music with First Class Honours in Piano Performance from the University of Auckland in 2013. During her studies in New Zealand she was the recipient of numerous awards including the Anne Bellam Scholarship and the Patricia Pratt Scholarship in Musical Performance. Somi was the winner of the 2014 Gerald Moore Award for Accompanists and is the recipient of the Major van Someron-Godfery Prize for Accompanists. She is also a Park Lane Group and the Kirckman Concert Society Artist for the 2015/16 season. Somi has much experience in repetiteuring and is sought after as a chamber musician and song accompanist. In recital, recent and future appearances include the Royal Over-Seas League, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, St. James Piccadily, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Oxford Lieder Festival, Purcell Room and Wigmore Hall and the Concertgebouw Hall in Amsterdam. Somi’s chamber group Estrella were winners of the 6th Pettman/Royal Over-Seas League Arts International Scholarship in 2012. Subsequently, she undertook a 6-week tour of the United Kingdom performing at many prestigious venues. They recorded and released their first commercial CD ‘Tui’ in 2013 with Atoll records. Somi has appeared in public masterclasses with Stephen Hough, Simon Trpceski, Helmut Deutsch, Florian Boesch, Bengt Forsberg and Maxim Vengerov. She is currently studying a Master of Arts in Piano Accompaniment at the Royal Academy of Music under the tutelage of Michael Dussek and Ian Brown with the support from the Leverhulme Trust Postgraduate Scholarship. ‘…great performance of a great work, powerfully argued and animated with a breathtaking range of colour, tone and inflection…’ - The Times ‘… simply superb regarding commitment, musicianship and technical command…’ - Classical Source