Born in Pasadena, California, fifteen-year-old Ben-Han Sung is a ninth grade student of the Harvard-Westlake School. He is studying piano with Mark Richman and violin with Fung Ho. Ben-Han is the concertmaster of the Harvard-Westlake Middle School Symphony Orchestra, the California Association of Independent School Honor Festival String Orchestra (2008), and the Los Angeles Unified School District Honor Orchestra (2007, 2006, and 2004).

     Learning and playing music has been an integral part of Ben-Han’s growing up, even though he was born with moderate to severe bilateral hearing loss. Wearing a pair of hearing aids, Ben-Han began his piano and violin studies at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music at about age four. Ben-Han’s pianist sister, Ben-Zhen, is an ongoing inspiration to him and has lots of influence in his music development. When they were young, they sang silly songs and played duos/duets together. They held numerous big and small make-believe concerts at home. Ben-Han was eager to learn challenging piano pieces his big sister played.

     With the support and encouragement of his enthusiastic music teachers, Ben-Han has garnered a list of honors at both instruments. He was awarded music scholarships by the Young Musicians Foundation, the Leni Fe Bland Foundation, the Los Angeles City Elementary Schools Music Association, the Olympia Philharmonic Society, the Southeast Symphony Association, and the Valley Cultural Center. He won top honors in prestigious competitions with the Music Teachers’ Association of California, the California Association of Professional Music Teachers, the American String Teachers Association, the Southwestern Youth Music Festival, and the Southern California Junior Bach Festival, amongst many other music organizations. Ben-Han performed in violin master class for Ruggiero Ricci sponsored by the Jascha Heifetz Society, piano master class for Robert Roux sponsored by the Virginia Waring International Piano Competition, piano master class for Anli Tong at the Tenth World Piano Pedagogy Conference, and piano master class for Pedro Carbone hosted by California State University, Long Beach.

     Winner of many concerto competitions, Ben-Han was a featured soloist with the Beverly Hills String Quartet, the New Valley Symphony Orchestra, the Southwestern Youth Music Festival Orchestra, the Culver City Symphony Orchestra, the Brentwood-Westwood Symphony Orchestra, the Redlands Bowl Summer Music Festival Symphony Orchestra, and the Olympia Youth Orchestra. He will perform with the New West Symphony Orchestra in 2008.

     Ben-Han also performed as guest artist at special functions, fund-raisers, and community outreach concerts hosted by the Pasadena Symphony Association, the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts, the Pasadena Foundation, the Redlands Community Music Association, the Brentwood-Westwood Symphony Orchestra Association, the New West Symphony League, and the East West Players. He gave a piano solo performance in a televised fundraising concert of the Southeast Symphony Association at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2005. He was also invited to perform in the 2007 American Liszt Society National Convention in San Francisco as a first place winner in the 2006 Los Angeles International Liszt Competition. Early this year, Ben-Han was interviewed by LA18 as the first place winner of the International Chinese Young Musicians Concerto Competition. He was also interviewed by the KCBS/KCAL, the Los Angeles Daily News, the World Journal, and the Harvard-Westlake School Chronicle.

     Besides his musical accomplishments, Ben-Han was the recipient of the Outstanding Graduate Award and Valedictorian Award of Portola Highly Gifted Magnet Middle School, and member of the California Junior Scholarship Federation. Upon nomination by his school teacher, he received invitations to attend the Junior National Young Leaders Conference at the Washington, D.C. and the National Young Leaders State Conference in California.