
Helen Sung / Piano Jazz Concert
Helen Sung is an acclaimed jazz pianist and composer, and a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow. She diverged from her classical roots after an unexpected encounter with jazz during undergraduate studies in piano performance at the University of Texas at Austin. Helen went on to become part of the inaugural class of the Thelonious Monk Institute (now the Herbie Hancock Institute) at the New England Conservatory of Music.
Now with nine leader albums to her credit, she has also worked with such luminaries as Clark Terry, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Wynton Marsalis, Regina Carter, Terri Lyne Carrington, Cecile McLorin Salvant, and the Mingus Big Band.
She currently teaches at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Columbia University, where she was the first jazz artist-in-residence at its Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute exploring intersections of jazz & neuroscience.
Helen’s take on jazz. “As a classical-turned-jazz artist, one of the things I have come to love the most about this American art form is its generous, communal heart: this is music made together, played together, and enjoyed together.”
Reviews
“… this was piano playing at a quite unbelievably jaw-dropping level.”
– Sebastian Scotney, London Jazz News
“There is a hierarchy of great piano versions of “Never Let Me Go,” with Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett at the top. Sung is now on the list”
– Thomas Conrad, JazzTimes Editor’s Pick
“Sung plays with crisp swing and elegant invention, her rhythms drawing from the music’s blues roots – and setting listeners’ heads bobbing – while she explores her own fresh ideas, often inspired from her classical training.”
— (New York Times)
Visit Helen’s Website Listen at Spotify Videos: YouTube See Helen’s Facebook