One of the United States' most respected performers and scholars in the field of traditional Vietnamese music, Phong Nguyen began playing both string and percussion instruments at an early age in a village in the Mekong River delta in southern Vietnam and was playing at a professional level by the age of 10. Having lived in the U.S since the 1980's, Nguyen is well-known within Vietnamese communities from Ohio to California, as a Renaissance man within the traditional music world, renowned for his performances, scholarship and teaching abilities. The Cleveland Heights resident was previously honored for his contributions with a National Heritage Fellowship in 1997.