Biography

Staff Sgt. Esther Kang was born in Seoul, South Korea. She joined the soprano section of The U.S. Army Chorus in 2023. She earned a Master of Music in Voice from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where she studied with William McGraw as a full-scholarship student, and a Bachelor of Music in Voice from Temple University, where she studied with Dr. Philip Cho.

Kang has sung with the Charlottesville Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Opera Saratoga, and Queen City Chamber Opera, as well as internationally in Austria and Italy. Her oratorio repertoire includes works by Britten, Garcia, Vivaldi, Mozart, Gounod, and Handel, performed in both Korean and English.

Kang has worn many hats in education, including teaching music at public and private schools, serving in staff leadership, managing programs, developing initiatives, fostering community relations, and cultivating partnerships, as well as teaching private voice, choir, private strings, orchestra, music theory, conducting, and serving as music director.

Career highlights with Pershing’s Own include singing solos at the Capitol for Colonel Puckett’s Lying in Honor, the White House, the Pentagon, headlining the Red, White, and Boom concert with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, and singing for NATO’s 75th Anniversary Summit.