Sohn, a disciple of the American giant Russell Sherman, first found his passion for Liszt's work when he accompanied the master playing through the complete etudes three times without any breaks in New York—and the recording of the performance has been acclaimed as "magical, ineffable and transcendental".

To Sohn, poetic ideas are at the centre of these pieces, while the virtuosic elements are simply layers to orchestrate the poetic content. "Only through these approaches can extraordinary levels of power be achieved," Sohn tells FestMag. "One must never start with solving the technical challenges. Instead read as many poems [as you can], and find and designate each etude with what resonates with you the most."

Sohn, recently hired as a piano professor at the prestigious New England Conservatory, became highly sought-after when his superstar disciple, Yunchan Lim, captured the world's attention by winning the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2022. When asked about his teaching process with Lim, Sohn replies that most of his teaching starts with the question: "Is this what you really want?" Sohn merely "tries to listen carefully to what their hearts wish to speak, and filter all unnecessary expressions out, letting the students find their own voice".