Ash Bu, guitar

Meet Ash

Ash performs on Show 468.

Ash Bu (guitar/composer), 18, was born in Seoul, Korea and is a senior at Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii. She studies guitar under Darin Au and has been in Punahou’s classical guitar ensemble under his direction for three years. She has traveled the world to study fingerstyle guitar and has been able to attend masterclasses with Stanley Jordan, Plini, Andy McKee, Mike Dawes, Alexandr Misko, Calum Graham, Trevor Gordon Hall, Jon Gomm, Pino Forastiere, Crossing Strings, Thomas Leeb, Sophie Chassee, Karlijn Langendijk, and Sönke Meinen.

Ash has been playing the guitar since she was seven and also briefly took lessons in oboe and piano in middle school. Through her guitar ensemble at Punahou, Ash participates in recording projects with the Augustine Foundation’s Virtual Guitar Orchestra and performs regularly during chapel services. During school breaks, she is a member of a student-run jazz ensemble.

Ash’s first public performances were on the streets of Waikiki as a busker. She’s played venues around Honolulu such as Waikiki’s Hard Rock Cafe, Kelley O’Neil’s Irish pub, and the Honolulu Downtown Arts Center. She has attended festivals and summer institutes at Thomas Leeb’s Acoustic Bootcamp and at Andy McKee’s Musicarium. Beyond the guitar, she was also selected to study composition under Richardo Lorenz at a New England Music Camp Intensive, where her work was recorded by members of the KAIA string quartet, Wayne Dumane, and other camp staff as well as students. Back in Hawaii, Ash’s compositions have been premiered and recorded by Punahou’s advanced classical guitar ensemble.

At 16, Ash was invited by friend, mentor and childhood hero Thomas Leeb to be a guest performer at the CalArts guitar forum and had the opportunity to participate in the school’s Ghanaian drumming and dance ensemble. A year prior, she was selected as one of twenty-five young guitarists around America who traveled to Washington D.C. to participate in the National Association for Music Education’s All-National Honor Guitar Ensemble under the direction of Chuck Hulihan. She was recognized globally when she advanced to the semifinals of the Natasha Guitars Fingerstyle Competition and placed within the top sixty players worldwide.

Beyond music, Ash is an active member of her school community. She is the editor-in-chief of Punahou’s art and writing magazine, as well as a Speech and Debate captain, the president of the Improv Club, and a Democracy Fellow who spearheads inter-school political dialogue. She is passionate about politics and constitutional law, and she believes music can be a powerful tool for cultivating empathy and inspiring change in the world.