Photo credit: Lisa-Marie Mazucco

Caroline Hong, professor of piano, keyboard area coordinator, and Steinway Artist, has been hailed for for her “expressive and powerful playing,” “formidable technique,” as well as her “keen sense of lyricism and the classical style” (Richmond Times and Columbus Dispatch). Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award-winning composer John Corigliano called her “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.” She has been favorably reviewed by American Record Guide, establishing herself as an interpreter of 20th and 21st century piano solo music. She has been featured on numerous radio and television broadcasts worldwide.

A passionate and sought-after teacher, Dr. Hong's faculty and guest teaching appointments extend far beyond her professorship at The Ohio State University. She has served on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) and Longwood University, and at major summer festivals and academies including the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Summer Piano Academy, Pianale International Piano Academy and Competition (Fulda, Germany), the Amalfi Coast Music and Arts Piano Festival (Italy), the Vianden International Festival and School (Luxembourg), the Piano at Peabody program, and the Adamant Music Festival (Vermont). Her strong teaching record is reflected by successful students who have won competitions and secured positions in music academia.

An internationally active soloist, she has appeared as soloist with the Utah Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Indiana University Philharmonic, and West Texas Symphony, among others. She made her Carnegie Weill Recital Hall debut as a winner of the Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition and, as winner of the Chicago Civic Orchestra Soloist Competition, performed in Symphony Center under the baton of Michael Morgan. Her competition distinctions include selection for the Van Cliburn International Audition; Concours Musical International de Montréal; Robert Casadesus, William Kapell, and UNISA International Piano Competitions; and Distinguished Performer of the Palm Beach International Piano Competition, Winner of the Society of American Musicians, and the Bach Festival of Southern California. As a student, she won the Music Academy of the West Concerto Competition and the Indiana University Concerto Competition.

As a chamber musician, she has performed with many 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 has also collaborated in performance with distinguished pianists including Olga Kern, Sergei Glavitskih, Spencer Myer,  and Andrius Žlabys among other distinguished pianists.

Dr. Hong is the principal founding member and President of the American Liszt Society Ohio Chapter, serves on the American Liszt Society Board of Directors, and is the Executive and Artistic Director of the Franz Liszt International Festival and Piano Competition at The Ohio State University.

In furtherance of the ‘Génie oblige’ mission, she established the Alan Walker Budapest Prize in 2025 awarding a selected prizewinner a debut recital at the historic Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungary. She has served as a jury member for the Mid Atlantic Artists USArtists International, Aarhus International Piano Competition (Denmark), Los Angeles International Liszt Piano Competition, Bartók-Kabalevsky International Piano Competition (U.S.), Princeton Symphony Orchestra International Piano Competition, International Young Artists Concerto (on whose Jury Alumni Board she currently serves), and others.

She holds degrees from Indiana University (DM), The Juilliard School (MM), and the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University (BM). At Indiana University, she taught both music theory and secondary piano as an Associate Instructor. She completed an accelerated academic path, earning her Master of Music from Juilliard in a single year and her Bachelor of Music from Peabody in just three years, where her junior recital received Honors Status. She has had the privilege of studying with Martin Canin, Jerome Lowenthal, Sergei Babayan, Dmitrii Paperno, Ann Schein, Karen Shaw, M. Deitzer, and Fernando Laires; and as a selected masterclass participant worked with Claude Frank, John Browning, Leon Fleisher, György Sebők, Menahem Pressler, and Charles Rosen. Her first teacher, with whom she began piano study at age two, was her mother, Mrs. Koon Ja Hong.

Following is a sample list of her graduates:

• Dr. Manuel Vizurraga 2026 (Outstanding Graduate Achievement, Outstanding Graduate Teaching Associate)
• Dr. Lily Wang 2026 (Outstanding Graduate Teaching Associate, Outstanding Graduate Achievement)
• Dr. Yantong Zhou 2026
• Dr. Yiwen Zhu 2025
• Dr. Ge Ding 2025 (Outstanding Graduate Achievement Award)
• Dr. Huiwen Jiang 2025
• Dr. Yu Qian 2024
• Dr. Dasom Kwon 2023 (Consecutive GTA Award Winner)
• Dr. Sunghwan Kim 2022 (DMA Concerto Competition Winner)
• Dr. Qianni Yang 2021
• Dr. Shitong Sigler 2021
• Dr. Yingzhou Hu 2020
• Dr. Liguang Zhou 2018
• Dr. Mihyun Lee 2014
• Dr. Jinyoung Kim 2014 (DMA Concerto Competition Winner)
• Dr. Jiyoung Park 2012
• Dr. Kyounglae Kang 2011 (DMA Concerto Competition Winner)
• Dr. Rina Shimizu Grow 2011
• Dr. Joseph Van Dyke 2011 (DMA Document Award)
• Dr. Hye Kyung Liz Yoon 2010
• Dr. Mei-Hsuan Huang 2010 (DMA Concerto Competition Winner)
• Dr. Lin-San Chou 2010
• Dr. Seonok Kim 2010 (DMA Concerto Competition Winner)
• Dr. Ryan Behan 2009 (DMA Concerto Competition Winner)
• Dr. Junghwa Lee 2008
• Dr. Yungjen Chen 2006 (DMA Concerto Competition Winner)
• Dr. Na Young Kim 2004 (DMA Document Award)
• Dr. Eun Kyoung Yang 2003 (DMA Concerto Competition Winner)
• Dr. Yung Ching Yang 2002
• Dr. Min Jung Cho 2002
• Dr. Hee Chung 2002
• Dr. Chllung Wel Chou 1998