Sylvia Hong is known to audiences worldwide as a pianist of imagination and virtuosity. As a concerto soloist, Sylvia has played in Korea with the KBS Orchestra, Mokpo Symphony and Suwon Symphony. In her native United States, she has performed with the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic and Mt. Vernon Symphony Orchestra. She made her debut in the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall at the age of 16 as the 1st prize winner of the National Russian Competition. Sylvia’s three commercial recordings, all live performances, were produced by the Far East Broadcasting Corporation. She was the Korea Times “Musician of the Year” for 2012.
As a piano duo, Sylvia Hong and Michael Rector have played recitals at the Kennedy Center in Washington and the Lotte Concert Hall in Seoul. In April 2013, they won the 2nd prize and Abild Prize for the best performance of American music at the Ellis Competition for Duo-Pianists. In April 2014, they toured in Eastern Europe, performing with the Georgian Sinfonietta and Black Sea Symphony. Highlights of their numerous tours in Korea include playing two sold-out concerts on the same day in Busan, and an invitation to perform with the orchestra in the Olympic city of Gangneung during the 2018 winter games.
Sylvia credits much of her success to her principal teachers-Lydia Frumkin of Oberlin Conservatory, Lee Kum-Sing of the Vancouver Academy of Music, and Benjamin Pasternack of the Peabody Conservatory where she received her Graduate Performance Diploma in 2012. She is currently Artist in Residence at Belhaven University.
Equally passionate as a performer and pedagogue, Sylvia has taught masterclasses in China Conservatory, Beijing, Biola University in Los Angeles, and at many universities in Korea. Since 2012, she served as Assistant Professor of Music at Belhaven University, and currently holds the title Artist in Residence. Sylvia is also an associate lecturer at the University of Wisconsin in Green Bay.