Caroline Hong

John Corigliano remarked of her performance of his “Etude Fantasy’ that she was “one of the greatest pianists I have ever heard”; of the same performance critics said, it was “breathtaking” and “hard to imagine a better performance.” Her performances of the standard repertory have earned her praise for “expressive and powerful playing”, “formidable technique” and a “keen sense of lyricism and the classical style”. She has performed a “nearly flawless” Bach Goldberg Variations over a dozen times in concert for memory.

Caroline Hong was born in Southern California and began the study of piano with her mother at the age of 2 and a half years. She gave her first solo performance two years later. Her teachers have included Fernando Laires and Ann Schein at the Peabody Institute of the John Hopkins University, Martin Canin at the Juilliard School, and James Tocco, Michel Block, and the late Karen Shaw at Indiana University, Jerome Lowenthal at the Music Academy of the West, and Sergei Babayan at the Sergei Babayan International Piano Academy. She was in the masterclasses of Gyorgy Sebok, Menahem Pressler, John Browning, and Claude Frank among others. 

 Although Hong has excelled in music academia and is now Professor and Area Head of Piano at the OSU University, she has managed a career as a soloist, chamber musician, masterclass teacher, lecture-recitalist, jury member of competitions national and international, and artist-teacher for major institutions in the United States and abroad. She has performed with the Richmond Symphony, Columbus, Symphony, Chicago Civic Orchestra, IU Philharmonic, Crystal Cathedral Symphony, and Korean Los Angeles Orchestra, among others. She has performed in Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, Seoul Arts Center, Symphony Center, and numerous other colleges and universities in the U.S. She has played with world class chamber groups including Dorian Wind Quintet and the Vermeer String Quartet. She toured extensively under management with Great Lakes Performing Artists Associates as a member of the piano-violin Duo Viardot. Her awards include Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition, Society of American Musicians, Distinguished Performer of the Palm Beach International Invitational Piano Competition and UNISA International Piano Competitions.

Currently, she serves on the Board of Directors for the American Liszt Society and is the Artistic Director for the Franz Liszt International Piano Festival and Competition. 
Caroline Hong is part of the PIANALE professor team since 2024.