BERKELEY HEIGHTS, NJ — The Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts announced on Wednesday, Oct. 5, that its artistic director, Helen H. Cha-Pyo, is one of 100 individuals chosen to receive an Eastman School of Music Centennial Award. The award is granted to those who exemplify the school’s mission and legacy through their commitment to artistry, scholarship, leadership, community engagement and philanthropy. Cha-Pyo joins Renée Fleming, Ron Carter, Chuck Mangione and Maria Schneider, among others, as a centennial awardee. For a complete list of awardees, visit rochester.edu/adv/eastman-centennial/centennial-awards.
Said Cha-Pyo, “This award was a complete surprise to me, and, needless to say, I’m deeply humbled by it. One thing I still carry in my heart from my studies at the Eastman School of Music is the phrase engraved on the facade of the Eastman Theatre, ‘for the enrichment of community life.’ I am grateful to be able to work at Wharton Arts, which shares the same mission of enriching life through music.”
Cha-Pyo is in her fifth season as the artistic director and principal conductor of the Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts. Under her leadership, Wharton Arts serves almost 2,000 students from 10 New Jersey counties with private lessons and group classes at the Wharton Performing Arts School; 15 performing ensembles at the New Jersey Youth Symphony; five performing ensembles at the New Jersey Youth Chorus; and the Paterson Music Project, an El Sistema–inspired program that provides free after-school instrumental music instruction to more than 450 children in Paterson.
For her stature as an accomplished musician who inspires young people around the world, Cha-Pyo received the Dove Leadership Award from the David & Dovetta Wilson Scholarship Fund in 2019. She is also the recipient of the 2022 Angelos Artist Award from the Angelos Mission Ensemble, where she was honored for her passionate leadership and commitment to using music as a vehicle for social change.
Born in Seoul, Cha-Pyo immigrated to the United States when she was 12. She studied piano and organ at Juilliard Pre-College. She has a bachelor’s degree in music with a focus on organ performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a master’s degree in music with a focus on conducting and organ performance from the Eastman School of Music. Cha-Pyo is a frequent guest conductor and clinician for all-state and regional festival orchestras throughout the country. She served as a visiting associate professor of conducting at the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University from 2017 to 2019.
Photo Courtesy of Alice Hamlet