The year she turned 11, she took second place in piano at the Tchaikovsky International Competition for Young Musicians. In 1998, she debuted on the stage of the Kumho Prodigy Concert. In 2002, she entered the Korea National University of Arts as a prodigy, and that autumn she won first place at the Viotti International Music Competition as the youngest participant.
In 2004, she played with the New York Philharmonic under Lorin Maazel and received the first Kumho Music Prize. In 2005, she took third place at the Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition. In 2006, she went to study at the Hanover University of Music in Germany.
In 2007, she played at the welcome concert for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at UN headquarters in New York. In 2008, she released a Chopin nocturnes album. In 2009, she took second place at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
The breakthrough yearThe year she turned 25, in June 2011, she took second place in piano at the 14th International Tchaikovsky Competition and won two special prizes. Yonhap News Agency wrote that she made her name known at home and abroad through this runner-up finish.
In 2012, she released the solo album Yeol Eum Son Piano and played at the Vienna presidential palace. In 2013, she played at the Washington dinner marking 60 years of the Korea–U.S. alliance. In 2015, she published her first essay collection, Music Letters from Hanover.
In 2016, she released Modern Times, her first new album in eight years, and became deputy artistic director of the Pyeongchang Daegwallyeong Music Festival. In 2018, she became the third artistic director of the Pyeongchang Daegwallyeong Music Festival. That year she also began hosting MBC TV Arts Stage. In 2020, she appeared on Hangout with Yoo and played the Turkish March.
In 2022, she finished hosting TV Arts Stage and received the Pony Chung Young Leader Award. Her term as artistic director ran until the end of that year. In 2023, she signed with Naïve and released the complete Mozart piano sonatas. In 2024, she received the grand prize at the Daewon Music Awards.
In 2025, she played in Brussels and at Lincoln Center in New York. In 2026, she began the recital tour Yeol Eum Son’s Playlist.
Yeol Eum Son (born May 2, 1986) debuted on Jul 21, 1998, the year she turned 12, at the Kumho Prodigy Concert, and became known on Jun 30, 2011, the year she turned 25, when she took second place in piano at the 14th International Tchaikovsky Competition. She became artistic director of the Pyeongchang Daegwallyeong Music Festival in 2018, the year she turned 32.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.