Critically acclaimed by the Baltimore Sun as "a musician of the most propulsive of lines in deftly synchronized fashion," Rachel Jee Young Choe gives concerts for everyone from the small corners of the world like open air schools in India and a tent at the Syrian refuge camp in Lebanon to the major concert halls including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Sidney Opera House, Shanghai Cultural Center, Tokyo Opera City Hall, Seoul Arts Center, Hong Kong Cultural Centre and Singapore's Esplanade.
She is the principal flutist of the Washington Chamber Orchestra, and served as the principal flute of the American Studio Orchestra and the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra. She was the special presentation winner of the Artists International New York, a top prize winner of the competitions such as the Korea Flutist Association, Music Chunchu magazine, Ewha Concerto and Chosun Newspaper, and a finalist of the Contra Costa Chamber Orchestra Concerto Award. Choe has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Washington Chamber Orchestra, the Mid-Atlantic Symphony, the Ewha Symphony and the Ewha String Ensemble. She was selected as one of two flutists for the Carnegie Hall's professional workshop of David Robertson and performed at its Zankel Hall. She has performed in the Norfolk, Orford, Bowdoin and Aspen Music Festivals, and the Zurich International Master Class.
An avid chamber musician, she performed with Duo Mare, flute and guitar duo in concerts and music festivals. With Soultree Ensemble, she reached out from musically underserved rural community in U.S. to a school for economically challenged areas in Delhi India. With the TW12 Music Group, she played for their 2 albums published by Sony Korea and for numerous tours North and South America, Asia, and Middle East. She played with Jeff Stern, a percussionist for various projects in Charm City Baltimore.
Her endless exploration and musical experiments can be heard her solo album "Après un rêve.” In the album, she transformed many of her beloved songs as she was breaking her own musical eggshell. She has participated in many other recordings as a flutist and an arranger to reflect her multifaceted musicianship.
She began piano at 4 and fell in love with flute when she saw a classmate playing Bizet’s Minuet from L'Arlésienne Suite in a talent show. She received her Doctor of Musical Arts, Master of Music and Graduate Performance Diploma with prizes of excellence in flute performance at the Peabody Institute, where she studied with Marina Piccinini. She holds a Bachelor of Music from Ewha Women's University in Korea, summa cum laude. She is currently on the faculty member at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University .
