Profiles

Lisa Sung is an award-winning jazz pianist and composer with extensive international performance experience who also teaches at several colleges in West Michigan. Sung studied both classical and jazz piano at Temple University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in piano performance and performed in the top band under trumpeter Terrell Stafford. She also holds a Master of Jazz Performance from New York University. She studied composition with Ron McClure and Dave Schroeder and studied jazz piano with Thomas Lawton, Don Friedman, and Don Glanden.

Sung has performed and recorded with Terell Stafford, Rodney Whitaker, Ron McClure, Quincy Davis, Stafford Hunter, Rob Smith, Thomas Knific, Diego Rivera, Dmitri Methany, Jordan VanHemert, John Webber, Nate Glasper Jr., and many others. Her passion is interpreting Asian melodies into jazz, and she recently released a jazz album of Korean children’s songs.

Sung is an adjunct professor at Calvin University, Hope College, and Aquinas College. She directs the Calvin University Jazz Band and codirects the Calvin University Gospel Choir.

Sung received a John Stites Jazz Award in 2022, and with JSJA sponsoring toured Indonesia in 2023 and was featured on CNN Indonesia. She planned to tour Korea in fall 2023 and Vietnam and the Philippines in 2024 with JSJA sponsoring.