Derek Chung is junior at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, IL. He is currently studying with Sueanne Metz. Derek’s recent accomplishments include first place at the Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition as part of the Southeastern Piano Festival in South Carolina, MostArts Festival Piano Competition, Luminarts Cultural Foundation for Classical Music, DePauw University Young Artist, US New Star Piano, the American Fine Arts International Concerto, and the Los Angeles Young Musician International Competitions where he was awarded overall Best Romantic Performance. He won second place at the Aloha International Piano Competition, Emilio del Rosario Piano Concerto Competition, Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition, and the Crain-Maling Chicago Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. He was first alternate in the east central region for MTNA. He was also a prize winner of Sejong Music Competition, Music Festival in Honor of Confucius Competition, Best Early Music Award at Walgreen’s National Concerto Competition, a finalist at the Midwest International Piano Competition, a semi-finalist and honorable mention at International Institute for Young Musicians International Piano Competition, and two time bronze medal winner at Seattle International Piano Festival Competition where he additionally received the teachers’ favorite award and the President’s Youth Prize for Best Chopin performance.
Derek has had the honor of performing in musical venues such as the historic Sala dei Notari in Perugia (Italy), Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Bennett-Gordon Hall at Ravinia, Kresge Auditorium at Interlochen, the Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago Symphony Orchestra Hall, and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York. He has given numerous public performances including with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the University of Alicante, Harper Symphony Orchestra as a finalist in the Emilio del Rosario Piano Concerto Competition, the Young Steinway Concert Series at the Skokie Public Library and live on Kansas Public Radio. He was chosen to perform in the Shining Stars Concert as part of the Music Festival of Perugia. He has upcoming performances with the MostArts Symphony Orchestra and the South Carolina Philharmonic for the 2016-2017 season.
Derek has participated in master classes and/or received private instruction from Steven Spooner, Marina Lomazov, Joseph Rackers, Robert Shannon, Sean Kennard, Sara Davis Buechner, Scott McBride-Smith, Haewon Song, Krystian Tkaczewski, Jack Winerock, Sasha Starcevich, Alexander Kobrin, Jerome Lowenthal, Ilana Vered, and John Bayless. He has attended the Cooper Piano Festival at Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the IIYM summer academy at the University of Kansas. Derek was also a member of chamber group Piano Trio Royale. The group was a two time semi-finalist at the Fischoff National Chamber Competition and the first place winner of the Rembrandt Chamber Competition. They were featured on NPR’s From the Top program.
