Dr. Baek Biography 

At four years old, Dr. Baek started learning the piano and decided to study piano performance  seriously at an early age. 

After she graduated from Kyeonggi Art High School, Dr. Baek received her bachelor’s  degree in Piano Performance from Sookmyung Women’s University in Seoul, South Korea.  She started teaching in private and at academies since she was a college student. In the  meantime, she also worked as a music therapist at a school for the disabled.  She moved to the United States to earn a Master of Music degree under Dr. Tuyen Tonnu and  a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance under Dr. Mark Clinton from Illinois  State University (ISU) and University of Nebraksa-Lincoln (UNL). At Illinois State  University, she received a full-scholarship and worked as a pianist in the ISU wind symphony  and participated in the Midwest Institute of Opera (MIO) during the summer.  At her doctoral study, she received a full-scholarship and the Pearl M Finigan Fellowship. As  a graduate teaching assistant, she taught group piano classes for undergraduate students and  had private lessons for graduate students. As a collaborative pianist, she accompanied at  University Singers and had many students’ solo recitals at UNL. In 2019, she had an  interdisciplinary project collaborating between music and dance with a grant and traveled to  South Korea with cello professor, Dr. Karen Becker and dance professor, Dr. Hyewon  Hwang from UNL. 

Currently, she works as a collaborative pianist in cello studio of Professor Stephen  Balderston and Professor Brant Taylor at DePaul University. 

She believes that piano lessons provide students performance skill and invaluable life-skills  such as responsibility, dedication, patience, confidence, and satisfaction.