Kevin Lee Sun

Kevin Lee Sun is Assistant Professor of Piano at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. With “probing seriousness” (Performing Arts Monterey Bay) and “a stunningly beautiful palette of colors” (Peninsula Reviews), Sun interprets music old and new. In 2011, he won the Silver Medal at the Virginia Waring International Piano Competition in California for his performances of the classical canon. In 2021, for his visionary programming of 20th-century music, he was the sole pianist to be named Finalist of the Berlin Prize for Young Artists in Germany.

These honors have led Sun to perform a diverse repertoire around the world, including at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Arnold Schoenberg Center in Vienna, the Villa Elisabeth in Berlin, and the Banff Centre in Canada. Masterworks for solo piano that Sun has performed recently in recital include Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy, Schumann’s Kreisleriana, Schoenberg’s Suite for Piano, and Hyo-shin Na’s Rain Study.

Sun's 2024-25 season is representative of his multi-faceted artistic interests. In September, his debut album THE PEOPLE UNITED—his recording of Frederic Rzewski's The People United Will Never Be Defeated! (1975)—will be released on the Navona Records label. His performance engagements will take him through Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Indiana, Seattle, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Tuscaloosa, where he will present his spiritual and intimate recital program THE ESSENCE OF THE SOUL. On that program is Hyo-shin Na's work Song So Old, which he commissioned and premiered in 2023, and which was published in June 2024 by Lantro Music. The season also highlights Sun's budding collaboration with composer Colin Kemper, whose work Buffalo is the recital program's centerpiece. Sun has commissioned a new work for solo piano by Kemper and will premiere it in 2025.

As a frequent collaborator of living composers, Sun has worked directly with Hyo-shin Na, Samuel Adler, Robert Morris, Daniel De Togni, Jeffrey Gao, Andreas Garcia, and several others in performing their works. He has played for Stanford University’s New Music Ensemble, San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Composition Department, and Thomas Schultz’s Summer Piano Seminar at Stanford. He also has managed the production of the Hot Air Music Festival, an annual new music marathon in San Francisco that is free to the public.

Sun balances his performance career with a strong devotion to teaching, and his piano students have achieved numerous successes. While he was an applied piano instructor at the Eastman School of Music, Sun’s students won prizes at the NY State Music Teachers Association State Competition and the University of Rochester Concerto Competition. They gave solo recitals, played in Rochester orchestras and jazz bands, and conducted school-funded research at the Library of Congress. Furthermore, chosen by renowned pianist Alexander Kobrin to be Mr. Kobrin’s teaching assistant at Eastman, Sun mentored students to win prizes at the Bosendorfer USASU International Piano Competition, Weatherford College International Piano Competition, Marian Garcia International Piano Competition, and Chautauqua Piano Competition. Students he has taught have been accepted to summer festivals such as Gijón International Piano Festival, the Amalfi Coast Festival's Piano Program, and Pianofest in the Hamptons, as well as to graduate school programs in various disciplines.

Setting Sun apart from other classical pianists is his research acumen. A native of Sacramento, California, Sun earned his B.A.S. in biology and classics at Stanford University, then his M.M. in piano at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he served as Piano Department Assistant. In the subsequent three years, he was a Stanford Medical School student. With his diverse educational background, Sun has co-authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles of original research in the fields of psychiatry, student mentorship, and Platonic philosophy.

Throughout his life, Sun has been proud to teach and learn from LGBTQ+ community members, neurodivergent transition-age youth, and English language learners. He has advocated for these students annually in national conference presentations for the College Music Society, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation.

Sun began his piano studies in Sacramento with Sylvia and Tien Hsieh, who fostered his musical talent. He later studied with Lorna Peters at Sacramento State, Sharon Mann at SFCM, Alexander Kobrin at Eastman, and Thomas Schultz at Stanford.

 

• D.M.A., Eastman School of Music
• M.M., San Francisco Conservatory of Music
• B.A.S., Stanford University

• Classical Piano
• Piano Literature
• Neurodiversity
• Inclusive Learning Environments