Julie J.
Hahn

Biography

A Life
Devoted to Music

Dr. Julie Juyun Hahn is a classical pianist, conductor, college music educator, and lecture-recitalist whose work brings together performance, music history, spirituality, and the humanities. With more than twenty years of teaching experience in the United States, she has served on the music faculty at Northern Virginia Community College since 2005, teaching applied piano, music theory, music appreciation, Western music history, world music, and related courses.

A native of Korea and a longtime resident of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, Dr. Hahn has appeared as a solo pianist, collaborative pianist, chamber musician, and conductor in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Her artistic journey has included performances with orchestras, chamber ensembles, and collaborative artists, as well as appearances as a soloist, educator, and guest lecturer in a wide range of musical and academic settings.

Dr. Hahn's academic training reflects both artistic excellence and interdisciplinary depth. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Church Music with a concentration in Orchestral Conducting from World Mission University in Los Angeles, a Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy from The Catholic University of America, and a Graduate Diploma in Piano Performance from the Peabody Conservatory of Music of Johns Hopkins University. She also pursued post-graduate theological studies in Worship Studies with a specialization in Ethnomusicology at Liberty University.

In recent years, Dr. Hahn has developed an international lecture-recital series entitled Beethoven's Music and the Spirituality of Absolute Positivity. Through this work, she explores how Beethoven's music speaks not merely of human struggle, but of the transformation of suffering into meaning, courage, hope, and spiritual renewal. Her lectures integrate live performance, musical analysis, historical context, and reflections on faith and the human spirit.

Her broader research centers on music and spirituality, including the spiritual and historical significance of Korean church music. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the music and spirituality of the late Rev. Jae Hoon Park, widely recognized as one of the fathers of Korean church music, with particular attention to his final completed work, St. John Passion. Dr. Hahn is committed to bringing greater international awareness to Korean Christian composers and their contributions to sacred music, history, and cultural identity.

As an educator, Dr. Hahn is deeply devoted to nurturing students not only as musicians, but as thoughtful and resilient human beings. She is a National Certified Teacher of Music through the Music Teachers National Association and has maintained Julie Hahn Piano Studio in Centreville, Virginia, since 1998. Her students have been accepted into leading music programs, received scholarships and competition awards, and performed at distinguished venues.

Whether at the piano, on the podium, in the classroom, or through lecture-recitals, Dr. Hahn seeks to communicate music as a language of the soul—one that can awaken beauty, restore hope, and invite listeners to see life with deeper meaning.