Moon Doh biography

A recipient of the Takaya Urakawa Foundation Grant awarded to promising young musicians, conductor Moon Doh has found great acclaim in various concert venues across Germany. As the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Flora Symphony Orchestra in Cologne for the past three seasons, he not only led exciting concerts but also worked closely with music pedagogues, reaching an unprecedented number of children through music. Moon’s latest collaborations include leading the WDR Funkhausorchester in Germany, Savaria Symphony Orchestra in Hungary, and Pleven Philharmonic in Bulgaria.

Born in South Korea, Moon spent much of his childhood in the Philippines, Russia, and the United States. At the age of nine, he began cello and piano studies in Russia and has since been performing with various youth and student orchestras across the globe. As a passionate advocate for young rising artists, he was the assistant conductor to the State Youth Orchestra of Hessen. In addition, he was also the conductor of the Under-16 Orchestra of Tonhalle Düsseldorf and regularly coached the Youth Orchestra of Essen. He is the conductor of the annual European Youth Music Week where talented young musicians across Europe gather for intense music making.

A staunch believer in empowering others, Moon has actively worked with asylum seekers in Hungary, children in underserved areas of Bangladesh, and inmates in Baltimore as the president of a student organization while completing his B.A. in International Relations and Economics from Johns Hopkins University.

In recent years, Moon has worked with many orchestras across Europe: Duisburger Philharmoniker, Dortmunder Philharmoniker, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, and Bergische Symphoniker in Germany, Romanian Chamber Orchestra in Romania, Malaga Philharmonic Orchestra in Spain, Sinfonietta Cracovia in Poland, and Ruse Philharmonic in Bulgaria to name a few.

Under the tutelage of Rüdiger Bohn, Moon received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in orchestral conducting from the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf, Germany. Prior to his conducting studies, he received a B.A. in music composition from Sahmyook University in South Korea. Moon has participated in renowned music festivals such as Accademia Chigiana in Italy and Bartók Festival in Hungary. His conducting mentors include Cristian Măcelaru, Peter Eötvös, Jorma Panula, and Manuel Hernandez Silva.