白建宇 10 歲就與韓國國家交響樂團合作演出，曲目是葛利格的鋼琴協奏曲；15 歲白建宇前往茱麗亞音樂學院學習，師從羅西娜・列文涅（Rosina Lhevinne），並在倫敦拜師伊洛娜・卡波斯（Ilona Kabos）；同時白建宇還在義大利學習，師從於圭多・阿戈斯蒂（Guido Agosti）和威廉・肯普夫（Willhelm Kempff）。白建宇的國際演奏生涯始於他的紐約首演，當時他在林肯中心演奏了拉威爾鋼琴作品全集。之後，他還在卡內基大廳舉行演出。白建宇曾獲得數個國際鋼琴大賽的首獎，其中最著名的即是 1969 年布梭尼國際鋼琴大賽的首獎。

之後白建宇分別在林肯中心、卡內基廳、維格摩廳以及柏林愛樂廳等地舉行鋼琴獨奏會，此外他還與祖賓・梅塔（Zubin Mehta）、馬捷爾（Lorin Maazel）、揚頌斯（Mariss Jansons）、余隆（Long Yu）、馬利納爵士（Sir. Neville Marriner）、薩瓦利許（Wolfgang Sawallisch）、貝洛拉維克（Jiri Belohlavek）尤洛維斯基（Vladimir Jurowsky）、季坦科（Dmitri Kitaenko）、帕沃・賈維（Paavo Jarvi）、伊凡・費雪（Ivan Fischer）、潘德列茲基（Penderecki）等指揮家合作，與他合作許多鋼琴協奏曲。他合作過的樂團包括以色列愛樂、紐約愛樂、聖彼特堡愛樂、倫敦交響樂團、BBC 交響樂團（1987 年逍遙音樂會）、巴黎管弦樂團、法國國家交響樂團、柏林交響樂團、匈牙利國家交響樂團、奧斯陸愛樂樂團、鹿特丹愛樂、義大利國家廣播交響樂團、華沙愛樂樂團以及英國室內樂團……。

白建宇灌錄許多唱片，包括史克里亞賓、李斯特（《馬丁報》評論：「對於白建宇來說，演奏李斯特的作品，是一次神秘之旅，是一種把他的聽眾引向作品核心的方式，去感受它們本質的律動……」）以及穆索斯基的作品，還有評價甚高的拉赫瑪尼諾夫鋼琴協奏曲全集錄音。白建宇的普羅高夫鋼琴協奏曲全集獲得 1993 年法國「金叉獎」，之後白建宇在Decca錄製了布梭尼的巴赫改編曲以及一張佛瑞的專輯，均贏得法國所有的主要獎項。另外，他發行了蕭邦的鋼琴與管弦樂團作品全集，與維特（Antoni Wit）／華沙愛樂合作。2005 年至 2007 年，白建宇在 Decca 錄製貝多芬全套32首鋼琴奏鳴曲，《獨立報》的 Rob Cowan 評論：「白建宇的戲劇感、睿智、對細節的掌握、富有內涵的和絃和極致靈活的技巧均值屬非凡。」白建宇還在卡內基音樂廳以及史卡拉歌劇院舉行音樂會，由泰米卡諾夫指揮聖彼德堡愛樂樂團一起演出。此外，白建宇還參加了拉赫曼尼諾夫協奏曲音樂會，也做客新日本愛樂交響樂團、中國愛樂樂團、上海交響樂團以及貝根愛樂樂團；也在法國、義大利、西班牙等地舉行鋼琴獨奏會。近幾年白建宇在 DG 唱片灌錄兩張布拉姆斯唱片，分別是第一號鋼琴協奏曲，以及晚期鋼琴小品，他的最新發行則是舒伯特的即興曲、三首鋼琴小品，以及樂興之時等錄音。

白建宇現居巴黎，是法國迪納爾翡翠海岸音樂節的藝術總監，他於 2010 年獲得法國政府頒發的「文學與藝術騎士勳章」。

Kun Woo Paik was born in Seoul. He gave his first concert, aged 10, with the Korean National Orchestra, playing Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto. In the following years he performed many important works in Korea, including several premieres such as Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Later he studied in New York (Juilliard School), London, and in Italy with Rosina Lhevinne, Ilona Kabos, Guido Agosti and Wilhelm Kempff. Kun Woo Paik is also a laureate of the Naumburg and Busoni International Piano Competitions.

Over the years Kun Woo Paik has performed recitals in major musical centres such as the Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall and Berlin Philharmonie. He has also performed with such orchestras as the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Last Night of the Proms 1987), Pittsburgh Symphony, Russian National Orchestra, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Rai Torino, Warsaw Philharmonic, English Chamber Orchestra and Polish National Radio Orchestra, with such conductors as Mariss Jansons, Sir Neville Marriner, Lawrence Foster, Mikhail Pletnev, Dmitri Kitajenko, James Conlon, John Nelson and Eliahu Inbal. Kun Woo Paik is also a regular guest artist at major music festivals such as the Berlin Festwochen, Aix-en-Provence, La Roque d'Antheron, Colmar, Spoleto, Aldeburgh, "Mostly Mozart" and Ravinia Festivals, and has toured extensively in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Italy.

His repertoire is very varied and comprises such rare works as Busoni's piano concerto, Fauré's Fantasy for piano and orchestra and Liszt's Fantasy on themes from Berlioz's Lelio. Kun Woo Paik also performs a wide selection of transcriptions by Liszt and Berlioz and is the dedicatee of Suk-Hi Kang's piano concerto.

Mr Paik has recorded the complete Prokofiev piano concertos with Antoni Wit/Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra for RCA (Diapason d'or in 1993), the complete Rachmaninoff piano concertos with Vladimir Fedoseyev / Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra (BMG), as well as several solo CDs of Scriabin, Liszt, Mussorgsky, Rachmaninoff, Mendelssohn piano music. In 2000 he signed an exclusive recording contract with Decca Classics. His first release featured the piano transcriptions of the organ works of J.S. Bach made by Ferrucio Busoni. Between 2005 and 2007, Decca recorded Paik in the complete piano sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven.

Kun Woo Paik lives in Paris, is the Artistic Director of the Emerald Coast Music Festival in Dinard (France) and was made "Chevalier de l'ordre des arts et des lettres" by the French Government in 2000. In September 2000 he was the first Korean artist to be officially invited to perform in China.

Paik has resided in Paris, France with his wife, actress Yoon Jeong-hee since 1974. Yoon is a star of the late 1960s commonly referred to as one of "The First Troika" by the South Korean news media, along with other two actresses in rivalry, Moon Hee, and Nam Jeong-im. The couple has a daughter who is a violinist.