Sungji Hong

Sungji Hong is an internationally recognized and award-winning composer whose works have been performed, commissioned, and broadcast throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States. Her output spans orchestral, choral, chamber, solo, and electroacoustic music, and her creative voice has been described by the American Academy of Arts and Letters as “at times complex and at times straightforward,” with “precise timbres that unfold dramatic, virtuoso gestures, iridescent colors, and vivid, atmospheric auras.”

Her honors include fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She has received commissions from the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition at the University of Chicago, the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University, the National Flute Association, the Texas Flute Society, the Furman University Clarinet Ensemble, the MATA Festival, Lorelei Ensemble, the Tongyeong International Music Festival, the Kumho Asiana Cultural Foundation, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and Ensemble TIMF. Her Missa Lumen de Lumine on the ECM New Series (ECM 1929), performed by Trio Mediaeval, received critical acclaim and reached the top ten on both the Billboard Classical Chart and the iTunes Classical Chart.

She has also been recognized in numerous international competitions, receiving first prizes in the Kazimierz Serocki, Franz Josef Reinl-Stiftung, Magistralia, Ilshin Composition Prize, In Nova Musica, Jesús Villa Rojo, the European Competition of the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki, the Temple Music Composition Prize, the Crwth Competition, the Original Ballet Music Competition at the ISCM World Music Days in Slovenia, and the Montserrat International Camera Music Composition Competition. Additional distinctions include second prizes in the Salvatore Martirano and Dimitris Mitropoulos International Composition Competitions, as well as the Theodore Front Prize (IAWM) and the Yoshiro Irino Memorial Prize (ACL).

Her music has been performed by leading performers and ensembles in more than 48 countries and 258 cities worldwide. Her works have been presented by the Radio Television of Serbia Symphony Orchestra, the Slovenian National Theatre Opera and Ballet Orchestra, the Jenaer Philharmonie, Oviedo Filarmonia, the Orchestra of Opera North, the Orchestra of Colours, the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, the Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra, the Masan Philharmonic Orchestra, the Seinäjoki City Chamber Orchestra, the City of London Sinfonia, the Soloists of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Yeongnam Philharmonic Soloists, the Soloists of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Volti Chamber Choir, Seattle Pro Musica, Renaissance Voices, Con Spirito, the New York Virtuoso Singers, Lorelei Ensemble, Aella Choir, iSing Silicon Valley, In Mulieribus, Seraphour, Trio Artemisia, Dulciana Vocal Ensemble, the BBC Singers, the Choir of the Temple Church in London, Ensemble Créations, Harry Sparnaay, Sarah Watts, Jason Noble, Carla Rees, Jiyoung Lee, Eun Hae Oh, Jennie Oh Brown, Elizabeth McNutt, Kelley Barnett, Laura Faoro, Jung Choi, Aleksandra Panasik, Sooyeon Lim, Jihye Chang, Maiko Matsuoka, Wendy Case, Hae-Sun Kang, the Arditti String Quartet, Ensemble Concorde, Nieuw Ensemble Amsterdam, Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin, Ensemble Linea, Ensemble Accroche Note, the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble, Caput Ensemble, Ensemble cross.art, Ensemble Mosaik, UMS ‘n JIP, dissonArt ensemble, Ensemble Avantgarde, Eutopia Ensemble, Hard Rain Soloist Ensemble, Quartz Ensemble, Onix Ensemble, Ensemble Offspring, Ensemble Sonomania, Traiect Ensemble, Stroma, Trio Sirènes, TrioPolis, Texas New Music Ensemble, ensemble NOISE, Juventas New Music Ensemble, Kassia Ensemble, Ensemble Mise-En, Phidias Trio Tokyo, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Next Mushroom Promotion, Ensemble hand werk, Ensemble Dal Niente, the Grossman Ensemble, Ensemble TIMF, and Trio Mediaeval.

Her works have been broadcast globally and recorded on labels such as ECM, Dutton, Atoll, and Universal Music Korea. Her discography includes thirteen albums and compilations featuring chamber, vocal, solo, and electroacoustic works. Her ECM New Series recording Lumen de Lumine, performed by Trio Mediaeval, received international critical acclaim, reaching the top ten on both the Billboard Classical Chart and the iTunes Classical Chart. Her choral work Lux Aeterna was praised by BBC Music Magazine with a five-star review, noting it as “the pick of several highlights.” Recent recordings include Phidias Trio – Works (2024), featuring her piece Lucem Vitae, and her solo oboe work Exepnefsen, recorded on the Panasik oboe album, described in reviews as having “the dramatic presence of Sungji Hong’s Exepnefsen is especially gripping.” Her works are published by Tetractys Publishing.

Sungji Hong, born in Seoul, received her early training in composition with Kyungsun Suh at Hanyang University. She later completed her MMus at the Royal Academy of Music in London, studying with Robert Saxton and Paul Patterson,  respectively, and also with Michael Finnissy. During her time at the Royal Academy, she was recognized with several major awards, including the Manson Award and the Leverhulme Trust Composition Award. She pursued her Ph.D. in composition at the University of York under the supervision of Nicola LeFanu, supported by the Vinson Award and the British Chevening Scholarship.

She participated in leading international workshops and masterclasses, including Voix Nouvelles at Royaumont and the Darmstadt Summer Course for New Music, where she studied with Brian Ferneyhough, Jonathan Harvey, Theo Loevendie, Tristan Murail, and Toshio Hosokawa. She also participated in the International Mastercourse and Workshop for Conductors and Composers with Péter Eötvös and Zsolt Nagy at Herrenhaus Edenkoben.

She currently serves as Associate Professor of Composition at the University of North Texas College of Music. As an educator and mentor, she guides undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students in composition, contemporary techniques, and artistic development. She also actively contributes to the wider musical community through lectures, residencies, juries, and international collaborations.