Yoonseo Shin

Yoonseo Shin is a Taranaki-raised composer based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. With a multi-instrumentalist background focusing particularly around piano, harp, and strings, Yoonseo has written numerous solo, chamber, and orchestral works since beginning her musical journey at a young age.

Yoonseo studied at Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music at Victoria University of Wellington and graduated in 2021 with a degree in composition and a film-score specialisation. In 2016, she won the Junior composition category for the NZ Chamber Music Contest and was awarded highly commended in the Senior category in 2018. In 2024 Yoonseo orchestrated the annual Kōkako Award winner’s original song as part of the NZ Children's Music Awards, which was performed by the Auckland Philharmonia.

As of 2023, Yoonseo has been working with the Auckland Philharmonia and currently manages the orchestra’s tertiary education programmes, and as of 2024 she has also been working as the assistant to New Zealand composer Claire Cowan. Yoonseo takes pride in enriching her diversity as a musician and continues to engage in many other projects in her spare time, including an electronic music duo with a fellow VUW alumnus, and playing lever harp and violin in a Celtic folk rock band.