Born in Seoul, South Korea, William (Hong-Chun) Youn began playing the piano at the age of six. Since his debut with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of eleven, William Youn has appeared regularly as a soloist with Orchestras such as The Cleveland Orchestra, the Staatsorchester Halle, the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz, the Belgian National Orchestra, and the Toronto Philharmonia among others, and has performed in the world’s most prestigious venues including the Lincoln Center (New York City), the Disney Hall (LA), the Musikverein (Vienna), the Palacio de Bellas Artes (Mexiko City), the Palau de la Musica (Barcelona), and the Auditorio Nacional (Madrid). His performances have been broadcasted by the Bavarian Radio Munich, the National Public Radio Boston, and the Czech Radio.

After his early studies in Korea, William Youn was accepted at New England Conservatory’s Preparatory School and at the Walnut Hill School in Boston at the age of thirteen. After five years of his studies in Boston, he went on to study in Hannover, Germany, where he continued his musical education with Bernd Goetzke. From 2006 to 2009, he was awarded a scholarship to study at the renowned International Piano Academy at Lake Como where he worked with musicians such as William Grant Nabore, the director of the Academy, Dmitri Bashkirov, Fou Ts’ong, Andreas Staier, Charles Rosen and Menahem Pressler. He has also performed in masterclasses by Andras Schiff, Christopf Eschenbach and Yo Yo Ma.

William Youn is a prizewinner at international competitions such as the Cleveland International Competition, the Concorso Alessandro Casagrande, the Shanghai Piano Competition, and was a finalist at the Busoni Competition. Sony BMG Korea has released several of his recordings, including the Schumann Piano Concerto with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra.

His Recording “Chopin, Schumann, Wolf”, which was released worldwide in 2010 by the label Ars Produktion in celebration of three composers’ Anniversary, has been selected as the recording of the Month by the Pizzicato Magazine of Luxembourg and has received the prestigious Exellentia Award.