Marcello Sung Hyuck Hong was born into a family of musicians in Seoul, South Korea. He studied with Christoph Schmidt in Mannheim and then in the soloist class of Božo Paradžik in Freiburg. He received awards at numerous competitions (Dong-A Music Competition, German University Competition, Izuminomori Competition, Stennebrüger Prize from the Carl Flesch Academy) and was a scholarship holder of the "Stiftung Podium junger Musiker".
As a soloist, he has played with the KBS Radio Orchestra, the Korean Symphony Orchestra and the Baden-Baden Philharmonic Orchestra, and he is known in his home country of South Korea as the leading double bass player of his generation. He has performed at several festivals (Schwetzingen Festival, Lucerne Festival, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Ferrara Musica Festival, Ascoli-Piceno Festival, Jeonju-Vivace Festival) both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. In worldwide orchestral appearances he has worked with Pierre Boulez, Sir Simon Rattle, Seiji Ozawa, Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph Eschenbach and Paavo Järvi. Under the leadership of Claudio Abbado he was a member of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Lucerne Festival Orchestra and from 2011 to 2023 he was a member of the hr-Sinfonieorchester. He has also made guest appearances with the Berlin Philharmonic, among others.
Besides orchestral and chamber music, teaching has always been at the centre of his interest. He gained his first experience in this field during his studies as a lecturer at the Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts.
Since the winter semester 2023/24, Marcello Sung Hyuck Hong has been appointed to a professorship at the Karlsruhe University of Music.