🎹 MASTER BIOGRAPHY — The Life and Journey of a Concert Pianist, Composer, and Elite Piano Technician
I have lived inside music since I was six years old. The piano has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. Over the years, I’ve listened to more than 3,000 symphonies — Beethoven alone over 1,000 times. I’ve listened to piano concertos more than 800 times, violin concertos over 500 times, and cello concertos over 300 times.
My dream of becoming a modern‑day Beethoven didn’t begin in childhood — it came later, in high school. That was when I felt the desire to create music with the same depth, emotion, and power that Beethoven brought into the world. His music shaped my artistic identity, and today I teach Beethoven to my students with the same passion that inspired me.
I am also a composer and concert pianist. I perform at private homes, birthday celebrations, and retirement communities. After one of my concerts, a woman from Sweden told me, “That is the most beautiful music I have ever heard in my life.” Another woman from Hungary said, “My heart almost stopped because your music is so beautiful.”
I’ve played Beethoven’s “Für Elise” more than 35,000 times, and I’ve struck piano keys more than 144 million times in my lifetime. Every note, every repetition, every hour at the piano has shaped my ear and my understanding of sound.
I also play the violin, an instrument where you must adjust pitch yourself with absolute precision. That skill — shaping pitch with my own hands and ears — became one of the foundations of my piano tuning, especially in the high notes. Violin training taught me to hear micro‑adjustments that most people never notice, and I apply that sensitivity to every piano I tune.
In one recording studio, after I tuned their Chickering 9‑foot concert grand, the engineer told me, “We’ve had this piano for 30 years, and it has never sounded this good — especially the high notes.” He said the piano sounded like a Steinway.
I tuned another piano for a graphic engineer at FOX 11 who owned a Yamaha U1. After I finished, he said, “This is the best sound in 43 years — especially the high notes. Nobody even got close in 43 years.”
I’ve taught two Grammy winners — Thelma Houston was one of my students, and another student was a drummer who won a Grammy for work with Beyoncé. I’ve also had Grammy‑level interest in my teaching: four‑time Grammy winner Eric Hudson wanted lessons from me, and a Grammy‑winning producer who sold over 12 million copies of his work also wanted lessons. Although those lessons never happened, the fact that they reached out shows the level of respect my musicianship has earned.
I’ve taught three professors, church pastors, pastors’ wives, church pianists, Miss California, Miss Turkey, a Korean community leader, a juvenile court judge, one M.D., music majors, and students with master’s and doctoral degrees.
My piano tuning career has taken me to places I never imagined. I tuned for Stevie Wonder’s birthday party — twice. The first time, President Obama attended. I tuned for the billionaire CEO of Forever 21 in a double‑gated Beverly Hills mansion modeled after the Saudi Arabian king’s palace. I tuned for Oksana Grigorieva, Mel Gibson’s partner, for her U.S. debut at NBC Extra. I tuned Nicolas Cage’s Steinway.
I tuned for Dolly Parton after a woman saw my car sign and called me. I didn’t realize who the piano was for until I spoke to her directly and she said, “Dolly Parton.” I asked, “The country singer Dolly Parton.” She replied, “How many Dolly Partons are there.” I never imagined I would be tuning for one of the most iconic artists in American music.
I tuned for Shaquille O’Neal’s family without even knowing it. The grandmother saw my car sign and hired me. She chose my “USC professor room” level tuning and said, “This is really good tuning.” She liked how I played and asked me to teach her 21‑year‑old son, then her 9‑year‑old granddaughter. Later, she revealed the truth: “Shaquille O’Neal.” I was shocked — I never imagined coming to America and teaching Shaq’s daughter.
I tuned for a pianist who won first place in the Holobitz Piano Competition, and for the winner of the All‑America University Piano Competition, who later performed at Carnegie Hall. Her father, a conductor, listened to the Samick piano I tuned and said, “It sounds better than a Steinway.”
I’ve tuned for the USC Band Director, the UCLA Choir Director, and the Art Department Dean at Azusa Pacific University. I tuned for a Ph.D. composer who won an international composition competition. I was referred to a UCLA professor who worked on six Star Wars films, Disney classics like Mulan, Bambi, Beauty and the Beast, and even Titanic. He sits on the Grammy board and has won two Grammys himself.
My commercial work includes tuning for BMW, Honda, Google, Nike, Amazon Prime TV (five times), Citibank, Gioco, Candy Crush, and Uber Eats. These productions rely on perfect sound, and every note must be flawless.
I tuned for the Culver City Orchestra for their event. I tuned for the Metro Line talent show. When Metro opened the Red Line extension in East L.A., they called me to tune the piano. While I was tuning, they heard me playing and told me, “You are the winner.”
One of the most unforgettable moments of my life began with a simple act of kindness. I found a live phone lying in the middle of an intersection. I opened the contacts and saw a pastor’s number. I called him and said, “I found a phone on the intersection.” He immediately knew who it belonged to.
The next Sunday, I visited the church and returned the phone to its owner — a woman in a wheelchair who must have dropped it while crossing the street. The church was so grateful that they gave my number to a man who runs an international handicap organization.
When I learned where he lived, I was terrified. His house was on a narrow cliff road with no fence, no guardrail, nothing. One mistake and my life would be over. You can’t even reverse if another car comes from the opposite direction. I was literally terrified, and honestly, I was almost angry wondering who would choose to live on a road like that.
But I made it to his house. He was in his 80s, and he showed me photos of his life — he had climbed Mount Everest five times and met four Presidents of the United States.
I tuned his piano to the maximum level. When he came out, he said, “You broke my piano.” For a moment, my heart dropped — I thought something had gone wrong.
Then he said, “My heart is broken because the sound you made is so beautiful.” He asked me, “Do you know what kind of piano this is?”
He told me the piano was a gift from a world‑class soprano who traveled all over the world. He showed me a book — the soprano had sung with Caruso himself.
Then he added, “This is the best tuning in 80 years, since the piano tuner who traveled the world with the soprano tuned it.”
My journey has taken me from childhood listening sessions to concert stages, from retirement homes to Hollywood studios, from university halls to billionaire mansions, from Grammy winners to NBA legends, from cliff‑side houses to world‑class recording studios. Every step has been guided by music, passion, and a lifelong dedication to sound.
And this is only the beginning.
