| Hailed for her “expressive and powerful playing”, “formidable technique”, as well as her “keen sense of lyricism and the classical style.” (Columbus and Richmond Times Dispatch), pianist Caroline Hong continues to flourish in her career as an internationally active soloist, chamber musician, artist-teacher, guest-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 Fleur de |  |
Son and Mark Records, establishing herself as an interpreter of 20th and 21st century piano solo music. She has been featured on numerous radio and television broadcasts worldwide.
Caroline Hong made her debut at Carnegie Weill Recital Hall as a winner of the Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition. She is a laureate of the Van Cliburn International Audition, the Robert Casadesus International Competition, William Kapell International Piano Competition, UNISA International Piano Competition, Beethoven Foundation, Distinguished Performer of the Palm Beach International Piano Competition, Winner of the Society of American Musicians, Bach Festival of Southern California, among others. She has been a featured performer on Robert Sherman’s “Young Artists Showcase” (New York Times Radio) and countless other radio broadcasts throughout the nation and abroad, also as a performer for the Sergei Babayan International Piano Academy. As winner of the Chicago Civic Orchestra Soloist Competition, she performed in Symphony Center under the baton of Michael Morgan. Hong has had the privilege of studying with luminaries such as Martin Canin, Jerome Lowenthal, Sergei Babayan, Dmitrii Paperno, Ann Schein, and Karen Shaw, M. Deitzer, and in solo masterclass with Claude Frank, John Browning, Leon Fleisher, and chamber masterclasses with the late Gyorgy Sebok and Menahem Pressler, among others. Her first teacher, with whom she began study of piano at the age of 2, was her own mother, Mrs. Koon Ja Hong.
Caroline Hong received her training from the Juilliard School in New York (M.M.), the Peabody Institute (B.M.), and holds a doctorate in piano performance from Indiana University (D.M.). She has served on faculty for the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Vianden International Festival and School (Luxembourg), “Piano at Peabody”, Longwood University, as both Piano and Theory Associate Instructor for Indiana University, and is currently serving as Professor at The Ohio State University. Dr. Hong has a strong teaching record reflected by successful students who have won competitions and positions in music academia. 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 in the U.S. as a member of the piano-violin duo, Duo Viardot. She is a Steinway Artist, the principal founding member and President of the American Liszt Society Ohio Chapter, and the Executive and Artistic Director of the Franz Liszt (U.S.) International Festival and Piano Competition. Other professional affiliations include Music Teachers National Association, Ohio Music Teachers Association, and the Columbus Symphony.