Pianist Sahun Sam Hong was the winner of the 2017 Vendome Prize at Verbier, and a prizewinner of the 2023 Naumburg International Piano Competition and 2017 International Beethoven Competition Vienna. He was also the recipient of a 2021 American Pianists Award. He has been invited to perform at major chamber music festivals and is a prolific arranger of chamber music and orchestral works. He is the Co-Artistic Director of ensemble132, a chamber music collective that presents his transcriptions on annual tours. At the age of 16, Hong graduated from Texas Christian University, studying with John Owings. He also studied with Leon Fleisher and Yong Hi Moon at the Peabody Institute. A member of CMS’s Bowers Program, Hong is currently based in New York City and serves on the faculty of CUNY Queens College.
Sahun Sam Hong was 11 years old when he took his first class at Texas Christian University.
The piano and math whiz graduated at 16. Now 29, the co-founder and executive director of ensemble132 is returning to campus for two performances. One concert will showcase the music collective and the second will include a side-by-side performance with current TCU chamber music students.
When Hong was around 8 or 9, his piano teacher connected him with John Owings, who was a professor and piano chair at TCU.
The families stayed in touch even after the Hongs moved from Texas to California.
The move was hard on the middle schooler. His new piano teacher didn’t work out and Hong wasn’t being challenged at school.
“I was very discouraged at the time, and I was going to quit piano,” Hong said.
But then Owings and his wife, Cordelia, offered to take Hong in. At first, they enrolled him in a middle school with a gifted and talented program, but it still wasn’t the right fit.
“This crazy idea came to mind for Cordelia and John where they thought, ‘What if he can take some classes at TCU? Maybe we can talk to the provost there,’” Hong recalled. “We were just going to take one class at TCU and then it turned into, maybe he can just enroll … so that’s kind of how that went.”
The experience wasn’t easy, he said, but it was still wonderful.
“Yes, I missed out on lots of things. I missed out on prom. … I didn’t do a lot of those normal things. But, I kind of learned how to speak through music,” Hong said. “That’s why I keep just returning to the idea of chamber music being such a powerful, powerful experience.”
Zachary Mowitz, a cellist and ensemble132’s co-founder and artistic director, appreciates the quality, vision and imagination that Hong puts into every arrangement.
“(He) gives these pieces a new life. For us as performers it’s a really unique opportunity to be able to … get our hands in these pieces that we would normally not be able to play in such a personal and hands on way,” he said. “To hear his voice coming out, at least from time to time, in tandem with the original composer is fun.”
Bach - Sheep may safely graze, arr. by Egon Petri Casio PX-160 with Garritan CFX VST.
2021 American Pianists Awards May 30, 2021 Sahun Sam Hong, piano
Paul Hindemith: Sonata No. 3 in B♭ Major I. Ruhig bewegt II. Sehr lebhaft