Choong-ha Nam

Pianist Choong-ha Nam is Associate Professor of Piano at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas. During the year she balances working with music majors in classroom and private lessons and engaging a wide audience in various chamber and solo performances. An active performer, pianist Nam performed concerts across North America and globally, and her performances have been featured in Houston’s public radio KUHF FM 88.7 as well as many academic institutions including Oberlin College, University of Arizona, University of Oklahoma, University of North Texas, Murray State University and Southern Methodist University. Recently she appeared as featured guest artist for International Piano Series at Fort Hays State University in Kansas. She collaborates with her faculty colleagues at WTAMU frequently and recently gave world premiere performance of Lowell Hohstad’s Impressions as a faculty trio. Sought after as a pianist in her region, she is also a frequent soloist and collaborator for Chamber Music Amarillo for its season concerts; recent performances included the performances of Bach Keyboard Concertos and Hummel’s Septet No. 1. Her research presentations on topics ranging piano literature and pedagogy have appeared nationally and internationally at the meetings of Korean Association of Piano Pedagogy, Texas Music Teachers Association (TMTA), National Music Teachers Association (MTNA), Athena Festival and Conference, MTNA Group Piano and Piano Pedagogy and Suzuki Association of the Americas. In the summer of 2018, she was invited to present masterclasses for International Music Arts Association in Foshan and Dalian, China, and in 2009 she served as a guest faculty at the National Piano Teachers’ Young Artist program at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She is frequently invited to judge as part of the national judging penal at the TMTA Student Affiliate competitions and at piano festivals and competitions throughout the Southwest region.

Dr. Nam received degrees from the Oberlin College Conservatory, Southern Methodist University, and the University of Houston. During her studies she garnered several academic and artistic recognitions including the University of Houston’s Albert Hirsch Memorial Scholarship, Meadow’s Artistic Scholarship from Southern Methodist University and Carol Knott Pedagogy Prize from Oberlin. She received a full scholarship to attend California Summer Music where she trained intensively on chamber music. During her time at the University of Houston, she won its concerto competition and appeared as a soloist. She is a prizewinner of Great Neck Young Musician’s Competition (Great Neck, New York), Texas Music Teachers Association Contests, and New Orleans International Keyboard Festival Concerto Competition. Dr. Nam is the author of George Perle’s Nine Bagatelles (1999): A Study of Design, Pitch Relations, and Metric Pattern, her doctoral dissertation completed in 2006. She is trained in Suzuki piano method and is a national CD/DVD reviewer for Clavier Companion, a premier magazine in piano teaching.