Pianist Jihea Hong, the sole recipient of Juilliard's 2002 Summer Grant, performs regularly as both recitalist and chamber musician. She has been featured at Alice Tully Hall, Steinway Hall, Chautauqua Institution, Korea's Incheon Cultural and Performing Arts Hall, Montclair State University, Rutgers University, the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, and is currently preparing for a performance at Carnegie Hall this season.

Ms. Hong is also an active participant in community outreach, and has performed in numerous benefit concerts to raise funds for nonprofit organizations. This past summer, in a program entitled, "Reaching for Our Stars," she performed and gave music lessons to children in orphanages throughout South Korea. She organized a series of more than 20 concerts over a three-week period, and raised funds for these institutions.

Ms. Hong is presently on the piano faculty at Montclair State University's Preparatory Center for the Arts. She has taught at the Chautauqua Music Festival, Stokes Forest Music Camp, and the New York Philharmonic's Young Children's Concert series. In June of 2001, she was invited to adjudicate the piano auditions for the Music Educator's Association of New Jersey.

Ms. Hong received her Bachelor of Music Degree from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Jacob Lateiner. She is currently pursuing her Master's degree from Juilliard, and studies with Juilian Martin. Ms. Hong has coached with world-renowned artists including Bruce Brubaker, Margo Garrett, Seymore Lipkin, Jonathon Feldman, Felix Galimir and Yoheved Kaplinsky.

Ms. Hong has received numerous scholarships and awards at the Juilliard School including the Joseph and Rosina Lhevinne Scholarship, the Marie Dring Scholarship, and the John and Eva Post Scholarship. She has also won several teaching fellowships including Piano Minor Teaching Fellowship, Morse Teaching Fellowships and Concert Fellowship.

A native of South Korea, Ms. Hong moved to the United States in the fall of 1991, and currently resides in New York City.