Jihea Hong-Park

Korean American pianist Jihea Hong-Park enjoys a versatile and vibrant career as a soloist, chamber musician, and collaborative pianist. She has performed at major venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Merkin Hall, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Steinway Hall, The Kosciusko Foundation, the Bar Harbor Music Festival, and the Caramoor Summer Music Festival. She has appeared on concert stages internationally, including performances at the International Symposium and Festival of the Centre of Intercultural Music Arts at the University of Cambridge (England), Seoul Arts Center (South Korea), Yun I-Sang Concert Hall (North Korea), Komae Ecorma Hall and Niigata Performing Arts Center (Japan), Stockholm Cathedral (Sweden), Maarja-Magdaleena Lutheran Church (Estonia), and Riga Dome Cathedral (Latvia). Most recently, her solo and chamber performances were broadcasted on Orfeo TV, Korea's premier classical music channel. Moreover, Ms. Hong-Park has performed at notable academic institutions such as Tokyo College of Music, Seoul National University, Yonsei University, University of North Texas, UCLA, University of Southern California, College of William and Mary, and Rutgers University. Enthusiastic about contemporary music, she has premiered works by internationally acclaimed composers including Sophia Serghi, Jean Ahn, Steven Ricks, Gui Sook Lee, and Eric Sessler. In 2019, Ms. Hong-Park co-hosted a series of five New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concerts alongside the Omaha Symphony’s music director, Thomas Wilkins, at David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center.

Ms. Hong-Park currently holds the position of Associate Professor of Piano at Brigham Young University. Her students have won numerous awards in international, national, and regional competitions including first-place prizes at the Emory Young Artist Piano Competition, Walgreens National Concerto Competition, International Keyboard Odyssiad & Festival Competition, Medici International Music Competition, Radda Rise International Piano Competition, Utah Symphony’s Salute to Youth Concerto Competition, Utah Music Teachers Association (UMTA) Concerto Competition, BYU Concerto Competition, BYU Piano Competition in Collaboration with Classical 89, and Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Piano Competition at the Southwest Division progressing to the National Finals. Many of these awards resulted in student performances with the Utah Symphony, BYU Philharmonic Orchestra, BYU Symphony Orchestra, Timpanogos Symphony Orchestra, the Utah Philharmonic Orchestra, American Fork Symphony, and American West Symphony. Furthermore, Ms. Hong-Park’s dedicated mentorship has led students to present academic research at the MTNA National Conference, National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, MTNA National Collegiate Symposium, and the College Music Society Regional Conference. Her strong commitment to teaching is reflected by her previous faculty appointment at The Juilliard School, which she held for fourteen years.

Through guest masterclasses, Ms. Hong-Park has worked with students from across the world, including Showa University, Kobe College, Osaka University of the Arts, Wuhan Conservatory of Music, Missouri State University, Grand Valley State University, Loyola University New Orleans, Weber State University, Eastern Mennonite University, Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts, Ohio University, pianoSonoma Music Festival, Ernest So Masterclass Series (Hong Kong), and Gitameit Music Institute (Myanmar). During the summers, she serves on the artist-faculty at Brevard Music Center in North Carolina, one of the country’s elite summer festivals for gifted music students.

An avid researcher, Ms. Hong-Park has presented at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s UNITWIN International Arts Symposium, National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, the College Music Society National Conferences, MTNA National Conference, and International Teaching Artist Conference. She has also appeared as a frequent guest speaker at prestigious institutions including the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Palmetto International Piano Festival, Peace & Life Zone (PLZ) Music Festival @ DMZ Korea, Socially Engaged Musicians Network Forum of Korea, Youth Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and New York City Department of Education. In November 2023, she delivered the keynote address at the UMTA Annual State Conference. Her scholarly interest includes career development for musicians, entrepreneurship and leadership in the performing arts, interdisciplinary arts collaboration, Asian American studies in classical music, the music of women and composers of color, and social consciousness, activism, and advocacy of the arts.

Ms. Hong-Park is deeply committed to providing access to and education for the arts. As a lead teaching artist of the New York Philharmonic, she led a faculty of conservatory-trained musicians and taught in the nation’s largest orchestra-school partnership residency program serving over 3000 students across the five boroughs of New York City. She has also organized numerous projects to raise funds for non-profit organizations and established community concert residencies to bring arts to underserved communities. In recognition of her leadership in community engagement and arts education, she has been featured in select interviews and documentaries on the Educational Broadcasting System (EBS) TV network in Korea.

Ms. Hong-Park received her B.M. and M.M. degrees at The Juilliard School and pursued five years of postgraduate studies at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her principal teachers include Julian Martin, Jacob Lateiner, and Bruce Brubaker. Upon her graduation from Juilliard, she received the school’s highest award, William Schuman Commencement Prize, for her exceptional achievement, leadership, and service in music.

Ms. Hong-Park has served as a juror for the MTNA Eastern Division Competition, UMTA Piano Concerto Competition, Weber State University Piano Festival and Competition, International Virtuoso Competition, Encore Keyboard Competition, and MEANJ Piano Competition. She has served as the chair of the MTNA/UMTA Piano Performance Competition for the past three years.