Eunmi Ko - Toy Piano

Born and raised in South Korea, Eunmi Ko is a daring pianist known for her innovative approach to music and performance. With a diverse repertoire spanning classical, contemporary, and experimental genres, Ko seeks to challenge and inspire audiences around the world. Hailed as exceedingly interesting(New York Concert Review), excellent(Gramophone), and kaleidoscopic(San Francisco Classical Voice), Ko appeared in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Herbst Theater, and Seoul Arts Center, among others. She was an artist-in-residence for the IntAct Festival, Iceberg New Music Institute, and Present Music, among others. She was a guest artist at NienteForte, Cincinnati New Music, COMA (Madrid International New Music Festival), CLUSTER (Italy), San Francisco International Piano Festival, En Blanc et Noir Festival, Swan City Piano Festival, and more. As a champion of new music, Ko commissioned from a large number of contemporary composers for her solo/ensemble/interdisciplinary/pedagogy projects - Isang Yun Centennial Project, Piano Concerti with Percussion Orchestra, Orchard, MUTED, SPAM!, Project GUT, Project 1.5 & 34. 7, and more.

Ko communicates with the younger generation of composers and pianists through masterclasses, performances, and lectures. She was a guest artist at Soochow University (Taiwan), Fu-Jen Catholic University (Taiwan), EAFIT University (Colombia), Hong Kong Baptist University, The Education University of Hong Kong, Thessaloniki State Conservatory (Greece), Real Conservatorio de Superior de Musica de Madrid, Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio (Spain), University of Miami, Illinois State University, University of Notre Dame, Bowling Green State University, University of Tennessee, University of Georgia, University of Central Florida, Swan City Piano Festival, and more.

In 2021, she co-founded a Tampa-based new music organization, Contemporary Art Music Project (CAMP). Celebrating the music of living composers, CAMP is a hub of collaboration and new music. CAMP has programmed over 100 composers’ works, including over 20 world premieres. Presenting the highest quality of performances, interdisciplinary projects, and a broad spectrum of new music, CAMP hosts multiple concerts and its annual new music festival, CAMPGround, in the Tampa Bay area. Before CAMP, she served as a faculty advisor for USF New Music Consortium (2015-2021), artist faculty for Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival (2013-2018), and assistant director for the Women in Music Festival at Eastman (2011).

Ko received graduate degrees from the Eastman School of Music. She is on the faculty at the University of South Florida. Ko may also be heard on CD releases by Neuma Records, Innova Recordings, Ravello Records, and Centaur Records.

Events

  • September 18, 2026 - Tampa, Florida
  • September 20, 2026 - Pensacola, Florida

15 one-minute selections for Toy Piano

  • Halin sa Liso

    Maria Christine Muyco

    Halin sa Liso’ (From the Seed) reverberates concepts of growth, germination, and even mutation. This reflects many realities of today such as the COVID virus spread and effects of human actions that lead to production, as well as destruction.

    Dr. Maria Christine Muyco. Music composer and ethnomusicologist. Currently, she is a full professor of the University of the Philippines-College of Music and the former Chairperson of the Composition and Theory Department. She has written for various instrumental/vocal ensembles (including recycled materials) performed in Asia-Pacific, Europe and North American countries.

  • Sad Slavic Thingy

    Aaron Krister Johnson

    Aaron Krister Johnson's work has been heard across the world and has received acclaim. Currently in Tucson, but connected for decades to Chicago, his compositional and performing work maintains an ever-ecletic stream of influences. Mr. Johnson is both a founder and co-artistic director of UnTwelve, a group dedicated to encouraging musical practice in alternative tunings. Recent focus has been on meditative ambient/minimalist works under the moniker "Filtercreed", often driven by custom-coded generative processes that invite the listener to engage with a subtle and evocative process of change.

  • Minute Details

    Mike McFerron

    Mike McFerron is a professor of music and composer-in-residence at Lewis University in the Chicago area. The chair of the Department of Music at Lewis University, McFerron teaches music composition, theory, and directs the music production and recording program. He is founder and co-director of the Electronic Music Midwest festival. He received a DMA in composition from the Conservatory of Music—University of Missouri at Kansas City where his primary teachers were James Mobberley, Chen Yi, and Gerald Kemner. A native of Oklahoma, McFerron also studied composition with Ray E. Luke. He has been on the faculty of Hong Kong Baptist University, the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, and Kansas City Kansas Community College. McFerron has served as resident composer at the Chamber Music Conference of the East/Composers’ Forum in Bennington, Vt. McFerron serves on the board of the directors for the Metropolitan Youth Symphony Orchestra and is a past Chair of the Executive Committee for the Society of Composers, Inc.

    For more information about McFerron, visit bigcomposer.com

  • Chason triste (quasi una passacaglia)

    Leo Brauneiss

    Just play, have fun and don't feel too sad...

    Leopold Brauneiss was born 1961 in Vienna. He studied at the University of Vienna (musicology) and the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (musical education, piano) and received his doctorate in musicology in 1988. Since 1990 he has taught theory of music (harmony and counterpoint, analysis, history of music) and piano at the J. M. Hauer-conservatory (now J. M. Hauer-Musikschule) Wiener Neustadt, since 2004 he has been lecturer for harmony and counterpoint at the Institute of Musicology (University of Vienna), since 2006 he has held a lectureship in harmony, counterpoint and instrumentation at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater >>Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy<< in Leipzig. He wrote various articles on Pärt’s Tintinnabuli Style which have been published in different languages. His compositions have been performed by renowned artists like Gidon Kremer, Michael Kofler. Wolfang Capek, Kremerata baltica, Tonkünstler Orchester Niederösterreich.

  • Plunk

    Amelia S. Kaplan

    Plunk is my first work for toy piano, an instrument I have wanted to compose for, for quite some time. In it, a simple idea is restated from different registral and time perspectives and sometimes restated against itself in increasing cacaphony.

    Amelia Kaplan is a composer whose music creates meaning by juxtaposing and recontextualizing gestures crafted from the myriad musical and non-musical sounds accessible in our wired environment. Ms. Kaplan heads the Theory & Composition Area at Ball State University where she directs the New Music Ensemble.

  • Little Buddy

    Robert Voisey

    Inspired by his 3 year old “Little Buddy,” this work attempts to emulate the joy of the initial approach to a piano keyboard

    A bunch of composers know Robert Voisey for presenting a little bit of their music in a few places around the world. Every once in awhile he writes a bit himself.

  • Autumn Fairies

    Stephanie Henry

    This piece is fast, dark and whimsical. It explores the idea of Autumn fairies bringing death and decay through the colorful beauty of Autumn.

    Stephanie Henry is a classically trained pianist and composer from Minneapolis, MN. She performs with classical and theatrical ensembles, as well as with rock bands. She composed original works for film, musical theater, orchestras, quartets, and solo piano. Her music has been applauded for its originality and charismatic charm.

  • SPIKE

    David Bohn

    David Bohn received degrees in composition from the University of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and the University of Illinois. He currently resides in West Allis, Wisconsin, and is the music director at St. John's Lutheran Church in West Milwaukee. He is the President of the Wisconsin Alliance for Composers.

  • Ersatzwaltz

    Melinda Faylor

    There is a moment in childhood when life is a kaleidoscope of possibilities. Let it linger, let it last years, a lifetime, if you can. Each twist unveils the whirling patterns of a new day. Don’t look away this moment is yours. -poem by Jennifer Faylor

    Melinda Faylor is a pianist/composer based in NYC who works to weave together dense and mercurial sound worlds using field recordings, synthesized sound and piano.

  • Icy Banks

    José Jesus Azevedo de Souza

    This is one of numerous keyboard pieces for David Bohn and explores the somewhat frosty tone of the Toy Piano evoking thoughts of the icy banks of a river during the winter season. Following glistening clusters, the music proceeds dreamily with monotonously repetitive interwoven lines depicting

    José Jesus de Azevedo Souza studied in England at the Purcell School with a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. He then studied at the Trinity College of Music and the University of Sheffield. His music has since been performed in Europe, Asia, North and South America and Africa.

  • Lucy's Dance

    James Bohn

    Lucy is the composer’s best friend. Lucy is a cat. [Lucy is very foofy.]

    James Bohn grew up in a wooded area in Wisconsin. He has had many friends over the years. The best ones are furry and have four legs. He has wonderful memories of Snowball, Bandit, Dickens, Mickey, Molly, Al, and Zooey. His current best friends are Marty and Lucy.

  • Quartal Etude

    Michael Coleman

    This work is an etude for toy piano that consists mostly of arpeggiated quartal chords mixed with some block quartal chords. This work was composed for and dedicated to David Bohn as part of his participation in the Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame project.

    Michael Coleman has participated as composer/pianist in numerous new music programs and festivals in the U.S and Russia and has also had works performed in Austria, Bahamas, Belgium, Costa Rica, France, Kazakhstan, México, and Uzbekistan. Recent awards include First Diploma in the 2021 Golden Key International Composition Competition.

  • BACH (for Jan)

    Robert Fleisher

    BACH (for Jan), a tiny tribute to composer Jan Bach (1937-2020)--my greatly revered and deeply missed Northern Illinois University faculty colleague and dear friend--revisits the 19th-c. Welsh tune, Ymadawiad y Brenin ("The Departure of the King")—which inspired his stunning trio, Eisteddfod (1972) for flute, viola, and harp. Also an exceptionally skilled artist (whose drawing of the Northern Illinois University music faculty leaves no doubt to the identity of all portrayed), Jan's sense of humor is also evident in much of his music.

    Robert Fleisher's acoustic and electroacoustic music has been heard in more than a dozen countries, released on more than a dozen labels, and appreciatively reviewed in Fanfare, Journal of Singing, Musicworks (Canada), The New York Times, Percussive Notes, Perspectives of New Music, The Strad (U.K), and Strings Magazine. The NYC native attended the H.S. of Music and Art, earned his B.Mus. from the University of Colorado, and his M.M. and D.M.A degrees at the University of Illinois--studying with composers Ben Johnston, Salvatore Martirano, and Paul Zonn. He is Professor Emeritus at Northern Illinois University.

  • Ceremonies Performed on Crystal Instruments

    Erik Branch

    The title, “Ceremonies Performed on Crystal Instruments,” was suggested by the simultaneously hieratic and ritualistic, yet balletic and graceful character of the music— as if it were a sacred and commemorative, yet fleet dance elegantly performed in a distant place on tiny bars of glass and quartz.

    ERIK BRANCH is a native of New York City, and received a BA and MA in Music (Composition) from Hunter College. He lives near Orlando, Florida, where he is active as a pianist, musical director, composer/arranger, operatic tenor, and actor on stage and screen.

  • Almost

    Anicia Kohler

    "Almost" is a short piece written for an instrument that Anicia Kohler first started to love during lockdown in spring 2020. The piece is calm and nervous at the same time – and it constantly switches between major and minor harmonies. It almost resolves itself in the end.

    Anicia Kohler is a composer and pianist from Switzerland. Her works for solo instruments, small ensembles, string orchestra and choir have been performed and/or recorded in many European countries and overseas.