Amid a throng of Ilwaco students a few years ago, Alpin Hong, center, if you can find him, demonstrates his connection with young people. He will perform in concert for the Water Music Society Oct. 14 and plans some educational outreach during his visit.

Alpin Hong made his debut as a classical concert pianist at the age of 10, performing with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra in his native Michigan.

After earning his master’s degree at Julliard, he began a performing career and has recorded CDs.

Water Music Festival

Classical concerts

Chinook Events Center, 810 U.S. Highway 101, Chinook.

7 p.m. Friday Oct. 13, featuring Brazilan guitarist Diego Figueiredo and Cuban pianist Chuchito Valdés

4 p.m. Saturday Oct. 14, featuring Alpin Wong

Tickets $30 each or $50 for both, www.watermusic.com, or at the door if seats remain. Appetizers, desserts, beverages and no-host wine bar. Doors open one hour before performances; Ilwaco High School student musicians will attend.

He performed for the Water Music Society on the Long Beach Peninsula a couple of years before the covid shutdowns changed everyone’s lives.

He returns to give a concert Oct. 14, one of two autumn shows at the Chinook Events Center on consecutive days. Arrangements are being made for some educational outreach during his stay.

Hong sent the following love letter to share with fans.

“To my dear Long Beach-Ilwaco-Chinook friends,

I am beyond excited for my long-delayed return to the amazing Water Music Festival! This concert is very special for numerous reasons, including the fact that it is the only touring performance I will be giving this season.

I can’t wait to share my life changes with you that have forever changed my artistic path, including relocating to Hawaii and accepting my first position working for a school. As the saying goes, ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ — and this makes my return to the stage all the more precious to me.

I will be performing my very favorite works, including the titanic Sonata in B Minor by Franz Liszt. This piece is very meaningful because I learned it during the last time I stepped away from the piano for an extended period of time.

It is a single movement that contains nothing less than a lifetime’s worth of emotion, effort and energy. I will also be performing my unique arrangement of Ernesto Lecuona’s Malagueña, with includes a medley of my favorite themes from movies, pop music, and video games. Finally, I will end with the greatest piece ever written for the piano by an American,a piece which needs no introduction, Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue.’

Sharing the joy of classical artistry with students is perhaps my favorite component of touring, and due to the generosity of the supporters and staff of the Water Music Festival I will once again be performing educational outreach. I will once again get the chance to demonstrate how everyone can and needs to be a performer at some point in their lives.

I will demonstrate the techniques I use to tell a story clearly and effectively, boost self-confidence, and combat stage fright … through the music of ‘Star Wars’ and Super Mario Bros.

I look forward to seeing you all.”

— Sincerely, Alpin Hong