Sooah performs on Show 441.

Sooah Jeon (flute), 16, hails from Cresskill, New Jersey, and is a student of world-renowned flutist Carol Wincenc at Juilliard Pre-College. Sooah began learning the flute at the age of seven, and she received her performance diploma with distinction two years later from the Associate of the Royal School of Music in the U.K. as the world’s youngest flutist. She won the New York Flute Club Young Musicians Contest, the National Flute Association Junior Solo Artists Competition, and the Salon de Virtuosi $5,000 career grant after making her solo debut at Merkin Hall in 2019. She also won the National Flute Association Junior Solo Artists Competition in 2020.

Sooah performs as a soloist with orchestras such as the New York Chamber Players Orchestra, the Camerata Orchestra, and the Adelphi Orchestra. Sooah won the 2022 Juilliard Open Concerto Competition, where she performed solo with the Juilliard Pre-College Symphony. Her performances include the Royal Albert Hall in London and the Cité de la Musique in Paris, where she won the Virtuoso International Music Competition, as well as Seoul Lotte Concert Hall, where she was selected as one of the AllthatFlute Young Artists for 2022.

A passionate young musician, Sooah has taken part in a variety of national and international music festivals, including Shanghai Flute Festival, Gonjiam International Flute Festival, and James Galway Summer Flute Festival, where she was selected to perform as a junior Rising Star soloist. Her musical journey also includes chamber music. With her peers, she conducts chamber group activities with various types of instrumentalists to facilitate her musical communication.

Peter was named Host of From the Top in January 2020.

Peter Dugan’s position is sponsored by Susan and Gerald Slavet.

Peter first appeared on From the Top Show 158, recorded in April 2007, at age 18.

Prizing versatility as the key to the future of classical music, pianist Peter Dugan is equally at home in classical, jazz, and pop idioms.

He is heard nationwide as the  host of NPR’s beloved program From the Top.  He has appeared as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician across North America and abroad. 

In 2020, Mr Dugan performed with Joshua Bell on a PBS Broadcast “At Home with Music” and appeared on  the album of the same name on Sony Classical. He was also featured on PBS Great Performances with mezzo-soprano Kara Dugan for the series “Now Hear This”.

A sought-after multi-genre artist, Mr. Dugan has performed in duos and trios with artists ranging from Itzhak Perlman and Renee Fleming to Jesse Colin Young and Glenn Close. Mr Dugan’s debut performances with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony were described by the Los Angeles Times as “stunning” and by the SF Chronicle as “fearlessly athletic.” The Wall Street Journal described Mr. Dugan’s collaboration with violinist Charles Yang as a “classical-meets-rockstar duo.” Mr. Dugan has been presented in chamber music recitals by Carnegie Hall, Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, Music at Menlo, Moab Music Festival, and recently in recital with Joshua Bell at the Minnesota Beethoven Festival.  He was the 2019 featured recitalist for the California Association of Professional Music Teachers, and has soloed with the San Francisco Symphony, Houston Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, New World Symphony, and Mid-Texas Symphony.

His album with baritone John Brancy –  A Silent Night: A WWI Memorial in Song – pays homage to composers who lived through, fought in, and died in the Great War. Brancy and Dugan toured this program across North America in commemoration of the centennial of WWI, including performances at The Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall, Stanford University, the United States Naval Academy, and the Smithsonian Institute.  Together Brancy and Dugan won first prize at the 2018 Montreal International Music Competition and second prize at the 2017 Wigmore Hall International Song Competition. He can also be heard as the piano soloist on a recording of Ives’ Fourth Symphony from Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, a recording which the New York Times named one of the top classical albums of 2019. 

Mr. Dugan advocates the importance of music in the community and at all levels of society.  As a founding creator of Operation Superpower, a superhero opera for children, he has traveled to dozens of schools in the greater New York area, performing for students and encouraging them to use their talents – their superpowers – for good.

Mr. Dugan holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied under Matti Raekallio. He was a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s Young Scholar, College Scholar, and Graduate Scholar awards.

He resides in New York City with his wife, mezzo-soprano Kara Dugan, and serves on the piano faculty at the Juilliard School Evening Division. Mr. Dugan is a Yamaha Artist.