Concert Piano Series

The concert Piano Series brings acclaimed pianists from around to world to the Dixon Hall stage. January 30 features the reknowned Sung Chang.

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Sung Chang was born in Seoul, Korea, and began playing the piano at the age of three. At age five, he gave his debut concert and became the youngest winner of the Nagoya International Piano Competition in Japan, where he also received the Chamber Music and Japan Expo special prizes.

Chang has gone on to win more than ten international competitions - he won first prize and the special award for the ‘Best Performance of a Virtuoso Piece’ at the 7th Bösendorfer USASU International Piano Competition, as well as first prize at the Valsesia Musica International Competition, International Piano Competition “Citta Di Caraglio” in Italy. At Germany’s International 13. Wettbewerb der Chopin-Gesellschaft Hannover e.V., he was also awarded first prize and the audience prize. As a chamber musician, Chang garnered the first prize, audience prize, and the Schubert special prize from the International Schubert Competition for Piano Duo, where no second prize was awarded. Most recently, he was awarded silver medal at the 12th San Antonio International Piano Competition, as well as two special prizes: ‘Best Performance of a Work by a Classical Composer’ and ‘Best Performance of a Work by a Spanish, Latin American or Impressionistic Composer’.

In addition to his success at competitions, Chang’s engagements have taken him all over the globe to Germany, Italy, Netherland, France, Czech Republic, Japan, Taiwan, China, Korea and the USA. Last season alone, Chang performed solo recitals in more than fifteen major cities across the U.S. Most notably, he played Liszt’s Concert No. 1 at Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, and his recital at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw was broadcast live across the country. Some of Chang’s other engagements include performances for the Isang Yun Memorial Concert, North Korea National Orchestra Interaction Concert, Kumho Rising Star Series Concert, and the Yamaha Rising Star Concert. He has also performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, KBS Symphony Orchestra, Kyung-Ki Philharmonic Orchestra, HMTM Hannover Orchestra, Taejon Symphony Orchestra, Wonju Symphony Orchestra and KNUA Symphony Orchestra.

Chang completed his undergraduate studies at the Korea National University of Arts and successfully completed the Musical Performance and Postgraduate Program courses at the University of Music Drama and Media Hannover in Germany with Professor Vladimir Krainev and Ewa Kupiec. Currently, he resides in California after finishing his studies at University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music under Professor Jeffrey Kahane.