Ashley K. is currently pursuing a dual degree in Piano Performance at the Peabody Institute of Music under the guidance of Professor HieYon Choi, and in Cognitive Science at Johns Hopkins University. She previously studied with Dr. James Giles at Northwestern University and Dr. Matt Hagle at the Music Institute of Chicago, where she was a scholarship fellow at the Academy—an advanced pre-college training program for gifted young musicians.

Ashley has performed on world-renowned stages including Carnegie Hall, the Studebaker Theater, and the Miller Theater, and has also appeared in concerts across Italy.

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She is a three-time winner of the National Young Arts Foundation (2020, 2021, 2022), and was the winner of the MTNA Maryland Young Artist Piano Competition in 2022 and 2024, as well as the 2021 MTNA Illinois Senior Piano Competition. Additional accolades include first prize at the DePaul Concerto Competition (2020), the Walgreens National Concerto Competition (2019, 2020), and the Society of American Musicians Competition in both junior and senior divisions. Ashley also won first prize and the Best Interpretation Award at the Sejong Music Competition (2017–2019), and second prize at the Emilio Del Rosario Concerto Competition, where she was featured on WFMT.

As a soloist, Ashley has performed with the Oistrakh Symphony, the MostArts Festival Orchestra, and the EDR Orchestra. She has appeared multiple times on WFMT’s “Introductions,” including a 2019 live broadcast featuring works by Chopin, Rochberg, and Mozart. In 2017, she was named an Audience Favorite at the MostArts Festival in New York for “The Most Moving Performance of a Mozart Concerto.” She has also performed in the Young Steinway Concert Series.

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Ashley is an avid chamber musician. Her piano trio, Insieme, was a semi-finalist at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and won the Midwest Young Artists Chamber Competition in 2020. She participated in the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in 2019.

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In addition to her musical achievements, Ashley is actively involved in student-led community service initiatives, including the LEARN Benefit Concert and Melodies on Canvas. She also studied violin with Dr. Hye-Sun Lee at the Music Institute of Chicago, served as concertmaster of her high school symphony orchestra, and was selected for the Illinois Music Education Association orchestra in 2019 and 2020. She has received multiple merit scholarships for her violin studies.

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Ashley hopes to utilize her education and love of music to inspire her students and design a unique, customized lesson plan to address their individual needs.