Interplay: Mark Liu and Sahun Hong

InterPlay, a joint venture of UMBC and the Peabody Institute, began in 2016 as a way to connect UMBC undergraduate music majors with Peabody graduate students for their mutual benefit. Since that time, the partnership has evolved to include an innovative, interactive performance in Earl and Darielle Linehan Concert Hall, and a four-session teaching project, which to date have included master classes, chamber music coaching, audition preparation seminars and mock audition panels. For this performance, violist Mark Liu will collaborate with pianist Sahun Hong.

Taiwanese-American violist Mark Liu has appeared in performance throughout North America, as well as in Austria and Japan. Most recently, he was invited to perform in the summer home of Brahms in Mürzzuschlag, Austria. From Parsippany, New Jersey, he started violin at the age of nine and switched to viola ten years later in his first year at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He went on to earn dual degrees in economics and music performance at Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with members of the faculty and the Cleveland Orchestra. Mark has studied at the Aspen Music Festival and School with Masao Kawasaki on fellowship for three years, and has also played in masterclasses for Rebecca Albers, Vicky Chang, James Dunham, Gilad Karni, and Kim Kashkashian.

A lover of chamber music, he has worked extensively with members of the Brentano, Cleveland, Emerson, Juilliard, Pacifica, and St. Lawrence Quartets. He was named a 2016 Presser Scholar and awarded third prize in the 2018 Yale Gordon Strings Competition. Mark has also been personally mentored by Nobuko Imai, Daniel Panner, and Tabea Zimmermann. He now studies with Choong-Jin Chang at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.

Praised for his “excellent combination of virtuosity and musicality” and “lots of clarity, confidence, and wisdom” (New York Concert Review), pianist Sahun (Sam) Hong brings his colorful style and riveting energy to the solo, chamber, and concerto stage. On the roster of Young Steinway Artists since 2010, Hong has been featured as a guest soloist with the ORF Vienna, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Camerata New York, Fort Worth, Richardson, Racine, Waco, Galveston, and Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestras. He has given performances in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the Goldener Saal and Brahms-Saal at the Vienna Musikverein, Merkin Hall, Église de Verbier, and the Kennedy Center.

Hong was most recently the winner of the 2017 Vendome Prize at Verbier, and also received Second Prize at the 2017 International Beethoven Competition Vienna. He was a finalist for the 2017 American Pianists Awards.

An avid chamber musician, Hong is the pianist of Trio St. Bernard with violinist Brandon Garbot and cellist Zachary Mowitz. He has participated in festivals such as Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, Chamber Music Encounters at Lincoln Center, and the Taos School of Music. His recent collaborations include performances with Itzhak Perlman, Colin Carr, Ani Kavafian, Ida Kavafian, Daniel Phillips, and Steven Tenenbom. At the age of 16, Hong graduated magna cum laude from Texas Christian University (TCU) with a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance, studying with John Owings. He is currently a student of Leon Fleisher in the Doctor of Musical Arts program at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.

Admission is free.