Career Highlights
Korak Lertpibulchai is the founder and director of the Mahidol International Piano Festival and currently serves as Chair of the Piano Department at the College of Music, Mahidol University. She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician across Thailand, the United States, Spain, Italy, Poland, Singapore, and China.
In 2026, she was invited on two occasions to serve on the piano faculty of the Yeoncheon International Piano Camp in South Korea. She was also invited to give a solo recital and teach masterclasses at the Krzysztof Penderecki Music Academy in Kraków, Poland.
A dedicated advocate for new music, Korak served as a pianist with the University of Iowa Center for New Music from 2014 to 2017. During that time, she premiered and performed works by composers including David Lang, Kaija Saariaho, Dimitri Papageorgiou, Augusta Read Thomas, Hans Abrahamsen, Irina Dubkova, Bruno Maderna, Robert Moran, Michael Fiday, Dan Welcher, Louis Karchin, and Adam Greene.
Her discography includes recordings of works by David Gompper and Alan Schnitz, as well as a project dedicated to contemporary Thai music for solo piano. This project showcases the distinctive sound palettes and aesthetics of Thai composers such as Nat Yontararak, Atiphob Pataradejpisan, and Siraseth Pantura-Umporn.
Korak has served as a juror for numerous competitions, including the Chiang Mai International Music Competition (2026), VP Piano Competition (2026), JINYA International Performing Arts Festival (2026), Singapore International Virtuoso Piano Competition (2025), Osaka International Music Competition, Bangkok Regional (since 2023), 5th Omartis International Music Competition in Singapore (2024), 5th Thailand International Piano Competition (2018), Young Artist Music Contest (since 2018), Quad Cities Baroque Competition (2013), and The SET Youth Music Competition.
Korak holds a Bachelor of Music with First-Class Honors from Mahidol University (2011), a Master of Music from Illinois State University (2013), and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Iowa (2017). Her primary instructors have included Ksenia Nosikova, Eri Nakagawa, Joshua Russell, Mina Ivanova, Ramasoon Sitalayan, and Supaphon Vibulpanuvej.
Education
2017 – University of Iowa (USA) – Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Pedagogy
2013 – Illinois State University (USA) – Master of Music in Piano Performance
2011 – Mahidol University (Thailand) – Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance – First Class Honor
