Terence Yung (born

Hong Kong, China Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

) is a classical

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

, international arbitrator,

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

of the

legal Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a Socia ...

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

br>''The Yung Conspiracy''
and host of the

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

br>''Really Good Piano Playing with Terence Yung''

Education

At the age of five, Yung was found playing melodies by ear. Yung, who grew up in the United States, studied privately with

Eleanor Sokoloff Eleanor Sokoloff (née Blum; June 16, 1914July 12, 2020) was an American pianist and academic who formed a piano duo with her husband, Vladimir Sokoloff. She taught piano on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music from 1936 until her death ...

of the

Curtis Institute of Music The Curtis Institute of Music is a private conservatory in Philadelphia. It offers a performance diploma, a Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on a full scholarshi ...

. He later trained at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

pre-college program in New York City, where he was a scholarship student of Frank Lévy and

Martin Canin Martin Canin (March 23, 1930–May 9, 2019) was an American pianist and prominent piano pedagogue who was on the faculty of The Juilliard School from 1976 to 2016 and of Stony Brook University from 1965 to 1993. Canin was born in New York City ...

(the teaching assistant of the eminent pedagogue

Rosina Lhévinne Rosina Lhévinne (; (Бесси); March 29, 1880 – November 9, 1976) was a Russian and American pianist and famed pedagogue. Early life, education and family Rosina Bessie was the younger of two daughters of Maria (née Katz) and Jacques Bess ...

who taught

Van Cliburn Harvey Lavan "Van" Cliburn Jr. (July 12, 1934February 27, 2013) was an American pianist. At the age of 23, Cliburn achieved worldwide recognition when he won the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958 during the Cold ...

and

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (November 15, 2022)Classic Connection review, ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

). He continued his studies with

Abbey Simon Abbey Henry Simon (January 8, 1920 – December 18, 2019) was an American concert pianist, teacher, and recording artist. He was a protégé of Josef Hofmann at the Curtis Institute of Music and a winner of the Naumburg International Piano C ...

(who himself was a pupil of

Josef Hofmann Josef Casimir Hofmann (originally Józef Kazimierz Hofmann; January 20, 1876February 16, 1957) was a Polish-American pianist, composer, music teacher, and inventor. Biography Josef Hofmann was born in Podgórze (a district of Kraków), in Aus ...

) at the

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

in Texas on a music scholarship and Pell grant. While at the university, he taught students from families of extreme poverty at the

Yellowstone Academy Yellowstone Schools is a school organization based in the Third Ward, Houston, Third Ward, Houston, Texas. One component is Yellowstone Academy, a non-profit,"Community Impact: Jack Blanton Community Center at Yellowstone Academy." ''Houston Bu ...

in the Third Ward part of Houston as part of its urban outreach initiatives. Yung excelled academically, winning prizes for English essays on the subjects of

H. Rider Haggard Sir Henry Rider Haggard (; 22 June 1856 – 14 May 1925) was an English writer of adventure fiction romances set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a pioneer of the lost world literary genre. He was also involved in land reform t ...

and

Bram Stoker Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912), better known by his pen name Bram Stoker, was an Irish novelist who wrote the 1897 Gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. The book is widely considered a milestone in Vampire fiction, and one of t ...

. He graduated in 2012 with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

from the Department of English and a

Bachelor of Music A Bachelor of Music (BMus; sometimes conferred as Bachelor of Musical Arts) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. The degree may be awarded for performance, music ed ...

from the

Moores School of Music The Rebecca and John J. Moores School of Music is the music school of the University of Houston. The Moores School offers the Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Arts in Music, Master of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in music performance, ...

, obtaining

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

honors in both degrees. Upon graduation, he was inducted into the

Sigma Tau Delta Sigma Tau Delta () is a US-based, international honor society for students of English at four-year colleges and universities who are within the top 30% of their class and have a 3.5 GPA or higher. It presently has over 770 chapters in the Unite ...

and

Phi Kappa Phi The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi (or simply Phi Kappa Phi or ) is an honor society established in 1897 to recognize and encourage superior scholarship without restriction as to the area of study, and to promote the "unity and democracy of educa ...

honor societies. He also holds the prestigious Diplôme from the Académie internationale d'été de Nice in France, where he studied with

Michel Béroff Michel Béroff (born 9 May 1950) is a French pianist and conductor of Bulgarian origin. Background and education Béroff was born at Épinal, and trained at the Nancy Conservatory, winning the 1st prize in 1962 and the prize of excellence in 196 ...

and

Philippe Entremont Philippe Entremont (born 7 June 1934) is a French classical pianist and conducting, conductor. His recordings as a pianist include concertos by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Tchaikovsky, Maurice Ravel, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninoff, Camille Sain ...

. Additionally, he took lessons (informally) with

Lang Lang Lang Lang (; born 14 June 1982) is a Chinese pianist who has performed with major orchestras around the world and appeared at many leading concert halls. Active since the 1990s, he was the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Berlin Phi ...

Susan Starr Susan Starr (born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American pianist. Career Susan began her studies with Eleanor Sokoloff at age four. Starr began her studies at the Curtis Institute of Music at the age of seven where she studied with Rudolf S ...

Garrick Ohlsson Garrick Olaf Ohlsson (born April 3, 1948) is an American classical pianist. In 1970 Ohlsson became the first, and remains the only, competitor from the United States to win the gold medal awarded by the International Chopin Piano Competition, at ...

, and Horacio Gutierrez. Yung qualified to study at

Cornell Law School Cornell Law School is the law school of Cornell University, a private university, private, Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. One of the five Ivy League law schools, Cornell Law School offers four degree programs (Juris Doctor, JD, Maste ...

and the

University of Pennsylvania Law School The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Carey Law, or Penn Law; previously University of Pennsylvania Law School) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Phi ...

, but matriculated at the

University of Texas School of Law The University of Texas School of Law (Texas Law) is the Law school in the United States, law school of the University of Texas at Austin, a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas. According to Texas Law’s American Bar ...

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

on a full scholarship, where his teachers included John A. Robertson,

Sanford Levinson Sanford Victor Levinson (born June 17, 1941) is an American legal scholar known for his writings on constitutional law. A professor at the University of Texas Law School, Levinson is notable for his criticism of the United States Constitution as ...

and Alan S. Rau. While at Texas, he served as a law clerk for the

Texas Attorney General The Texas attorney general is the chief legal officer
of the

, the Travis County Attorney's Office, and the Texas Advocacy Project. He also edited for the

Texas Review of Law and Politics The ''Texas Review of Law & Politics'' is a legal publication whose mission is to publish "thoughtful and intellectually rigorous conservative articlesarticles that traditional law reviews often fail to publishthat can serve as blueprints for cons ...

and the Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal. He later enrolled at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, where he earned a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

with

First Class Honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied, sometimes with significant var ...

. His dissertation advanced a liberal

morality Morality () is the categorization of intentions, Decision-making, decisions and Social actions, actions into those that are ''proper'', or ''right'', and those that are ''improper'', or ''wrong''. Morality can be a body of standards or principle ...

analysis of the law of

gross negligence Gross negligence is the "lack of slight diligence or care" or "a conscious, voluntary act or omission in reckless disregard of a legal duty and of the consequences to another party." In some jurisdictions a person injured as a result of gross neg ...

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

under the

moral foundations theory Moral foundations theory is a social psychological theory intended to explain the origins of and variation in human moral reasoning on the basis of innate, modular foundations. It was first proposed by the psychologists Jonathan Haidt, Craig Jose ...

Jonathan Haidt Jonathan David Haidt (; born October 19, 1963) is an American social psychologist and author. He is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at the New York University Stern School of Business. Haidt's main areas of study are the psyc ...

. He was called to the

Chartered Institute of Arbitrators The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (abbreviated as CIArb) is a professional organisation representing the interests of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) practitioners. Founded on 1 March 1915, it was granted a royal charter by Queen Elizabe ...

London, England London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

as an Associate Member ( ACIArb) in 2022. He earned a Certificate in Healthcare Law from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. In addition, he holds course certificates from the

SDA Bocconi School of Management SDA Bocconi School of Management (SDA standing for Scuola di Direzione Aziendale) was founded in 1971 and is the graduate business school of Bocconi University in Milan and Rome, Italy. SDA Bocconi is Triple accreditation, triple accredited by t ...

, the

Wharton School The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...

, as well as

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, where his teachers included

Akhil Reed Amar Akhil Reed Amar (born September 6, 1958) is an American legal scholar known for his expertise in U.S. constitutional law. He is a Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, where he is a leading scholar of originalism, ...

Ian Shapiro Ian Shapiro (born September 29, 1956) is an American legal scholar and political scientist who serves as the Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University. He served as the Henry R. Luce Director of the MacMillan Center at Yale Univ ...

Ian Ayres Ian Ayres (born 1959) is an American lawyer and economist. Ayres is a professor at Yale Law School and at the Yale School of Management. Early life and education Ayres grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, where they graduated from Pembroke Country ...

Barry Nalebuff Barry J. Nalebuff (born July 11, 1958) is an American businessman, business theorist, and writer. He is a Milton Steinbach Professor of Management at Yale School of Management and author who specializes in business strategy and game theory. His pu ...

Robert Shiller Robert James Shiller (born March 29, 1946) is an American economist, academic, and author. As of 2022, he served as a Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale University and is a fellow at the Yale School of Management's International Center fo ...

, Paul Bloom,

Andrew Metrick Andrew Metrick is an American economist who is the current Janet L. Yellen Professor of Finance and Management at the Yale School of Management. His research has touched on topics including game theory, venture capital and private equity, and mo ...

, and former

United States Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

Timothy Geithner Timothy Franz Geithner (; born August 18, 1961) is an American former central banker who served as the 75th United States secretary of the treasury under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013. He was the President of the Federal Reserve Bank o ...

Music career

Yung has appeared as a recitalist, chamber-musician, and soloist with orchestras throughout the United States including performances in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, and

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, as well as abroad in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. He made his first public appearance at the age of 6. At age 11, he was asked to perform Beethoven's "Waldstein" Sonata at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts' Master Class Series. At age 13, he made his professional début with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra at the Grand Opera House Youth Concert Series. Notable venues include the

Kimmel Center The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts is a large performing arts venue at 300 South Broad Street (Philadelphia), Broad Street and the corner of Spruce Street, along the stretch known as the Avenue of the Arts, Philadelphia, Avenue of the Ar ...

in Philadelphia, the Teatro de Puigcerdá, the Grand Opera House in Delaware,

Benaroya Hall Benaroya Hall is the home of the Seattle Symphony in Downtown Seattle, Washington, United States. It features two auditoria, the S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium, a 2,500-seat performance venue, as well as the Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital ...

, Yamaha Salon,

Steinway Hall Steinway Hall (German: ) is the name of buildings housing concert halls, showrooms and sales departments for Steinway & Sons pianos. The first Steinway Hall was opened in 1866 in New York City. Today, Steinway Halls and are located in cities suc ...

in New York City, the

Kosciuszko Foundation The Kosciuszko Foundation is a charitable foundation based in New York City. It was created by Stephen Mizwa to fund programs that promote Polish-American intellectual and artistic exchange. History The Polish American Scholarship Committee ...

, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. He has also appeared at a number of international music festivals including the Puigcerdá International Music Festival, th
International Keyboard Institute and Festival
at Mannes College, the Seattle International Piano Festival, and the International Piano Festival in Houston. His recordings and interviews have been broadcast by radio and television throughout the United States and abroad. Yung has been the subject of a number of interviews by Ming Pao Daily News and Global Chinese Times as well as French Public News as an outstanding young talent from Hong Kong. Mr. Yung has been an advocate for the education and outreach of classical music. He is affiliated with Sing For Hope, volunteering with its Healing Arts initiative to bring the gift of music to doctors and patients at the Mount Sinai Hospital in

. In 2010, Yung was selected as a Young

Steinway Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in New York City by German piano builder Henry E. Steinway, Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth le ...

Artist.

Personal life

Yung is the grandson of Yung Yi-Yin, a prominent educationalist who was headmaster of several Government primary schools in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. In 1980, the elder Yung was awarded a

Medal of Honour (Hong Kong) The Medal of Honour ( zh, t=榮譽勳章; MH) is part of the honours system in Hong Kong. It was created in 1997 to replace the British honours system after the transfer of sovereignty to the People's Republic of China and the establishment of ...

for valuable services rendered by him to Hong Kong by Her Majesty

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

, which was presented to him before an audience by the 25th Governor of Hong Kong

Murray MacLehose, Baron MacLehose of Beoch Crawford Murray MacLehose, Baron MacLehose of Beoch, ( zh, t=麥理浩; 16 October 1917 – 27 May 2000), was a British politician, diplomat and colonial official who served as the 25th Governor of Hong Kong, from 1971 to 1982. He was the lo ...

. Yung has made some donations to

Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, most notably

Governor of Texas The governor of Texas is the head of state of the U.S. state of Texas. The governor is the head of the executive branch of the government of Texas and is the commander-in-chief of the Texas Military Forces. Established in the Constit ...

Greg Abbott Gregory Wayne Abbott ( ; born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and jurist who has served since 2015 as the 48th governor of Texas. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served from 2002 to ...

. He was a member of the

Federalist Society The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (FedSoc) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative and Libertarianism in the United States, libertarian legal organization that advocates for a Textualism, textualist an ...

from 2015 to 2016 and from 2020 to 2021. He has also been a member and donor of

Students for Fair Admissions Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) is a nonprofit legal advocacy organization founded in 2014 by conservative activist Edward Blum (litigant), Edward Blum for the purpose of challenging affirmative action admissions policies at schools. In June 2 ...

, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization founded in 2014 by conservative activist Edward Blum for the purpose of challenging discriminatory admissions policies at schools. Most recently, the charity successfully sued

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

to end its discriminatory admissions policy. In February 2019, Yung was sentenced to a minimum-security institution for 46 months after pleading guilty to cyberstalking a

Georgetown University Law Center Georgetown University Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of Georgetown University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law ...

admissions interviewer. He published false and violent statements about his victims, including online personal ads with the intent that individuals interested in violent sexual activity would go to the victims’ residence in the middle of the night. Yung accepted full responsibility, saying: “I apologize for my behavior toward Mr. X and his family.” He paid a special assessment, and he agreed to the entry of a Restitution Order for the full amount of the victims’ compensable losses.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yung, Terence American classical pianists Chinese male classical pianists American male pianists Classical pianists from Hong Kong Texas classical music Juilliard School alumni Living people University of Houston alumni 21st-century Chinese classical pianists 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American pianists Year of birth missing (living people) Yale University alumni Alumni of the University of London University of Pennsylvania alumni Wharton School alumni Bocconi University alumni