Caroline Hong, professor of piano, and executive and artistic director of the Franz Liszt (U.S.) International Piano Festival and Competition (hosted by The Ohio State University School of Music), received her training from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University (BM, scholarship student, performance honors), The Juilliard School (MM), and Indiana University (DM) where she also served as an associate instructor for theory and secondary piano. She has served on faculty for the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Amalfi Coast Music and Arts Piano Festival, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Summer Piano Academy, Vianden International Festival and School (Luxembourg), Longwood University, and was the first female faculty member at the Piano at Peabody Roads Scholar summer program (2005). She has served as a jury member for Mid Atlantic Artists USArtists International, Aarhus International Piano Competition (Denmark), Pianale International Piano Academy and Competition, Los Angeles International Liszt Piano Competition, Bartok-Kabalevsky International Piano Competition (U.S.), Princeton Symphony Orchestra International Piano Competition, and International Young Artists Concerto (of which she is currently on the Jury Alumni Board). She has appeared as soloist with the Utah Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Indiana University Philharmonic, West Texas Symphony, as well as Chicago Civic Orchestra, among others. Her teachers include Martin Canin, Jerome Lowenthal, Sergei Babayan, Dmitrii Paperno, Ann Schein, Karen Shaw, M. Deitzer and Fernando Laires; and Claude Frank, John Browning, Leon Fleisher, Gyorgy Sebok, and Menahem Pressler as master class teachers. Her first teacher, with whom she began study of piano at age two, was her mother.

 

Hailed for her “expressive and powerful playing,” “formidable technique,” as well as her “keen sense of lyricism and the classical style,” Korean-American pianist Caroline Hong continues to flourish in her career as an internationally active soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, master class teacher, lecturer, adjudicator and recording artist. Pulitzer Prize and Academy award-winning composer John Corigliano referred to her as “one of the greatest pianists I have ever heard” after a performance of his Etude Fantasy (1976). Critics wrote that it was “breathtaking” and “hard to imagine a better performance.” Favorably reviewed by American Record Guide, she has recorded for Mark Records and Fleur de Son, further establishing herself as an eloquent interpreter of contemporary piano music. As a chamber musician, she has performed with many fine artist groups including the Vermeer String Quartet and the Dorian Wind Quintet, and toured extensively with the late Charles Wetherbee as Duo Viardot under management with Great Lakes Performing Artists Associates. Currently, Hong is listed on the artist roster of Price Attractions.

 

Caroline Hong made her debut at Carnegie Weill Recital Hall as a winner of the Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition. She is a Distinguished Performer of the Palm Beach International Piano Competition, Winner of the Society of American Musicians, the Bach Festival of Southern California, Chicago Civic Orchestra Soloist Competition, and semifinalist in UNISA International Piano Competition and Concert Artists Guild. She was a contestant at numerous other international competitions including the Van Cliburn International Audition, Robert Casadesus, William Kapell, American Pianists Association. She been featured in Symphony Center under the baton of the late Michael Morgan and numerous radio broadcasts worldwide including at the Sergei Babayan International Piano Academy, Robert Sherman’s “Young Artists Showcase” (New York Times Radio), and South Afrikaans radio. She is a Steinway Artist, a 2022–2023 recipient of the Steinway Top Teacher Award, serves as president of the American Liszt Society Ohio Chapter, and is on the Board of Directors of the American Liszt Society. Other professional affiliations include the Columbus Symphony Orchestra where she holds the Reinberger Chair.

 

Dr. Hong’s graduate advisees come from prestigious institutions including Indiana University, Cleveland Institute of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Seoul National University, Mozarteum (Salzburg, Austria), and the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. Her strong teaching record is evidenced by her students winning competitions and faculty positions.  Following are a list of her graduates of record:

 

Dr. Yu Qian 2024

Dr. Dasom Kwon 2023 (Consecutive GTA Award Winner)

Dr. Sunghwan Kim 2022 (DMA Concerto Competition Winner)
Dr. Qianni Yang 2021

Dr. Shitong Sigler 2021

Dr. Yingzhou Hu 2020

Dr. Liguang Zhou 2018

Dr. Mihyun Lee 2014

Dr. Jinyoung Kim 2014 (DMA Concerto Competition Winner)

Dr. Jiyoung Park 2012

Dr. Kyounglae Kang 2011 (DMA Concerto Competition Winner)

Dr. Rina Shimizu Grow 2011

Dr. Joseph Van Dyke 2011 (DMA Document Award)

Dr. Hye Kyung Liz Yoon 2010

Dr. Mei-Hsuan Huang 2010 (DMA Concerto Competition Winner)

Dr. Lin-San Chou 2010

Dr. Seonok Kim 2010 (DMA Concerto Competition Winner)

Dr. Ryan Behan 2009 (DMA Concerto Competition Winner)

Dr. Junghwa Lee 2008

Dr. Yungjen Chen 2006 (DMA Concerto Competition Winner)

Dr. Na Young Kim 2004 (DMA Document Award)

Dr. Eun Kyoung Yang 2003 (DMA Concerto Competition Winner)

Dr. Yung Ching Yang 2002

Dr. Min Jung Cho 2002

Dr. Hee Chung 2002

Dr. Chllung Wel Chou 1998