Critical Acclaim
“There doesn’t appear to be anything Choi can’t play – and with virtuosic panache, to boot.”
Chicago Tribune — John von Rhein
“Choi’s playing was nothing short of revelatory.”
Madison Magazine
“Sheer elan and pianistic devilment…”
BBC Music Magazine
Selected Reviews
“This year’s festival, entitled Echoes and Transformations, is the brainchild of Winston Choi … the imagination of the programming … made the concerts so fascinating.”
Calgary Herald — Kenneth DeLong · September 13, 2026
“Con seguro y delicado toucher, Choi delineó con suma claridad las líneas melódicas y voces internas … Soberbia explotación de colores, timbres y punzante rítmica.”
“With assured, delicate touch, Choi delineated melodies and inner voices with great clarity … Superb use of colors, timbres, and incisive rhythm.”
Círculo de Críticos de Arte de Chile — Jaime Torres Gómez · September 11, 2026
“Un programa tan exigente como original.” … “Su recia personalidad como intérprete, que le hace transitar por diversos estilos con propiedad y transmitiendo tanto virtuosismo como sensibilidad.”
“A program as demanding as it was original … His strong personality as an interpreter allows him to move convincingly between different styles, conveying both virtuosity and sensitivity.”
Visiones Críticas — Gilberto Ponce Vera · 2026
Chile
“… pianist Choi the equally persuasive, fluent and vital anchor.”
Chicago On the Aisle — Nancy Malitz · March 21, 2025
“played here and throughout with a sparkling touch by Winston Choi.”
An Earful — Jeremy Shatan · April 2019
Schumann Resonances
“… suppleness and supersonic reactivity …”
Diapason — Pierre Rigaudière · February 2019
Five-star review of Cycles and Arrows — translated from French
“His playing was crystalline, each note, whether in dense chords or single-note melodic phrases, was crisply articulated.”
Chicago Classical Review · December 5, 2016
“Choi y fait preuve de nuance et de souplesse.”
“Choi demonstrates nuance and suppleness.”
Anaclase — Laurent Bergnach · May 17, 2016
Lenot recital
“Choi delivered a galvanic, full-metal performance that received the loudest ovation of the night.”
Chicago Classical Review · June 2, 2015
"The afternoon’s highlight was Winston Choi’s performance of Anthony Cheung’s (b. 1982) 2010 solo piano work Roundabouts. The five-movement piece began with a four-note descending motive that served as an organizing trope, reminiscent of the opening of Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole. Choi’s sure hands and profound musical sensitivity brought out the shape, structure, and understated grammar of Cheung’s dense musical language."
Chicago Classical Review · March 16, 2015
“Virtuoso solo pianist Winston Choi found the luminous, lyrical heart …”
Chicago Classical Review — Wynne Delacoma · November 16, 2014
Adès: Traced Overhead; Adams: China Gates
"Monday night’s performance by Winston Choi was mesmerizing. The pianist drew a remarkable, finely terraced array of hues and dynamics from the keyboard, prepared notes and the instrument’s strings—conjuring an atmosphere of rapt concentration and nobility with a hushed pointillist delicacy."
Chicago Classical Review · December 17, 2013
“Choi and the quartet made it easy to hear all this, as the themes shone through the densest textures.”
Urban Milwaukee — Tom Strini · November 15, 2010
Schumann Piano Quintet with the Philomusica Quartet
"Choi's technique is tight and clean, and his tone is inviting. He is a genius with timbre."
American Record Guide · July/August 2010
“… le style d’un Jacques Lenot, si magnifiquement servi par le pianiste Winston Choi …”
Le Figaro · September 25, 2008
Plein soleil sur Winston Choi
“… accueillir au piano cet artiste non moins rayonnant qu’est Winston Choi …”
“Winston Choi nous met d’emblée au cœur du son et de la résonance à la faveur d’un toucher extrêmement sensible et nuancé …”
La Scène · September 24, 2008
"Pianist Winston Choi’s solo performance Friday night, courtesy of Hallwalls and the Yvar Mikhashoff Trust for New Music, was a treat for the ears, partially because he brought more than technique to the table. He did that by showcasing a style which blended chops with intelligence, serving the muse, not the other way around."
The Buffalo News · April 19, 2008
Winston Choi, l'Enchanteur
“Comme chez Lenot, la complexité rythmique de l’écriture se fait musique sous les doigts de cet artiste hors norme …”
La Scène · April 11, 2008
Winston Choi, le piano comme un jeu d'enfant
“… l’art de Winston Choi consiste à assouplir la réalité des touches sans ramollir le propos de la musique.”
Le Monde · April 9, 2008
“Choi sert magnifiquement cette musique.”
“Choi serves this music magnificently.”
Anaclase — Bertrand Bolognesi · April 7, 2008
Bouffes du Nord recital
"Under the fingers of Winston Choi, Alexander Scriabin's Piano Sonata No. 5, Op. 53, spilled forth in a rainbow of colors. Choi clearly enjoyed the dramatic moments of the impressionistic piece, but he also excelled at its contemplative moments."
The Washington Post · May 2005
“Choi, however, was up to the task and performed it with technical brilliance and ease.”
“The young pianist made the notoriously difficult work seem effortless.”
The Record · March 12, 2005
Waterloo Region
“Dès l’abord, le jeune pianiste canadien y trace son propre chemin, ciselant son interprétation d’un relief sculptural.”
Anaclase — Bertrand Bolognesi · 2005
“Choi offre une interprétation souple et charpentée de la Sonate pour piano dont il éclaire la complexité polyphonique.”
Le Monde de la Musique — Patrick Szersnovicz · September 2003
4 Étoiles
“Winston Choi domine ces partitions … feu et sensibilité.”
Le Temps — JS · August 23–24, 2003
“Winston Choï fait littéralement corps avec son piano. Un pianiste à suivre attentivement.”
Pianiste — Gérard Moindrot · July/August 2003
“Choi offre l’exemple d’une parfaite assimilation du langage extrêmement savant et complexe de Carter, qu’il aborde avec le même naturel que s’il s’agissait de Debussy …”
Diapason — Alain Cochard · July/August 2003
5 de Diapason
“La réussite majeure du disque est incontestablement Night Fantaisies, dont les climats volatiles et capricieux ainsi que la montée en puissance sont rendus avec une réelle subtilité de touchers …”
Piano le Magazine · July/August 2003
« L’interprétation par Winston Choi de mes oeuvres pour piano m’enthousiasme car il apporte une fraîcheur et une jeunesse remarquables … »
Répertoire — Jean Vermeil · June 2003
“… beaucoup de finesse, de relief, de délicatesse, une digitalité et une virtuosité au service de la musique …”
La Lettre du musicien — Sylvia Avrand-Margot · February 2003
"Winston Choi arrive parfaitement à maîtriser cette double pensée musicale pour n’en faire qu’une..."
ResMusica · 2003
"Le répertoire pianistique contemporain revient – juste titre ! à l’attention de l’éditeur..."
Arts et métiers · 2003
Further Acclaim
Undated reviews and testimonials
"Enthusiasm for Winston Choi's playing of my works prompts me to say that he makes them sound so fresh and young...Bravo!"
Elliott Carter
Elliott Carter: Piano Works
"Pianist Winston Choi's playing is hale and dramatic, zealous to communicate yet extremely accurate in score realization and never overwrought. Flawless in technique and perceptive in voicing, Choi puts forth all the variety of dynamics, touch, and texture inherent in the music. Sound and editing are excellent. A must for aficionados of this important composer, or for anyone searching for prime quality East Coast piano literature."
New Music Connoisseur
“Again we were left yearning for any further morsel of his insightful artistry.”
Madison Magazine
“Choi is an artist with a big future … able to dig in bravely or flick off those phrases that splash color over the score.”
Door Peninsula Voice — Eric Eriksson
"Clarity is the keynote of Choi’s presentation style, which he emphasizes by organization and dramatic, high contrast playing."
Showtime Magazine
"Choi's technique is astonishingly fluent, enabling him to render Ravel's [Gaspard de la nuit] perfurmed sonorities with seeming ease... Choi is simply superb here, constantly emphasizing the unpredictability of Mikhashoff's writing while reveling in the music's demands."
Fanfare Magazine
"This pair juggled Stockhausen's bristling technical demands with aplomb while maintaining a taut, driving energy and pulse. There were also sensitive to the composer's sense of playfulness, and when called upon to be pure musicians -- as in the fiendish, perpetual motion, toccata-esque section toward the end of the work -- delivered in spades."
The Ottawa Citizen
"Pianist Choi was also the urbane sophisticate. Here and elsewhere, he was the musical partner of a soloist's dreams, the sensitive, can-do facilitator you'd always want at your side."
The Palm Beach Post
"Choi's trills are to die for..."
The Muskokan
"Through lavish phrases, riots of descending and ascending chords, runs and trills and other dazzlements, Choi gave voice to the (Liszt Second) concerto, a single movement entity that builds toward a series of stunning climaxes... One could easily be impressed not only by the skill level of his technique but by a poetry in the hands and heart that revealed itself when the score permitted some rhapsodizing."
Herald Times
“Glasklar der Anschlag dieses jungen Pianisten, sein Spiel analytisch und virtuos und musikantisch zugleich.”
Bavarian Radio Classical Portal
“Winston Choi, jeune pianiste canadien d’une vingtaine d’années, offre une interprétation claire de ses pages.”
La Lettre du musicien