This year’s Brown Bag Concert Series, running from September through May, gets off to a start this month with a piano concert by Jayoung Hong. Dr. Hong is a popular piano teacher who also performs as a soloist and collaborative pianist.

The free (donations accepted) Brown Bag Concerts, sponsored by Westport Center for the Arts, connect musicians with local audiences in an intimate space. They are held monthly from 12:10 to 1 p.m. at the Westport Presbyterian Church, 201 Westport Road, Kansas City.

Dr. Hong has taught at several universities including Korea National University of Arts in South Korea, Brandon University in Canada and University of Nebraska Kearney. Her students are consistently top prizewinners at major regional, provincial, and national Canadian, Korean, and U.S. competitions. A popular clinician and adjudicator, she has presented master classes in the U.S., Korea and Canada.

She maintains her teaching schedule while touring for almost 60 recitals every year in Europe, Asia and North and South America. She has performed both as a soloist and a collaborative pianist at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Lincoln Center in New York, Royal Festival Hall in London, and Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., as well as in different venues in 40 U.S. states. International performances have included venues in Berlin, Austria, Italy, Czech Republic, New Caledonia, South Africa, Taiwan, Korea, China, Canada, and England.

She spends her summer teaching piano at University of Minnesota International Piano Camp as a Pre-College Program Coordinator and Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute. As a Carnegie Hall Festival Pianist, she has performed at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium-Perelman Stage in New York several times a year since 2007.