Đặng Thái Sơn at the X International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, where he was the first Oriental to win the gold medal:

This was just five years after the end of the Vietnam War, and four years after his admission to the Moscow Conservatory. Sơn's father was a noted poet and musician, and his mother was a pianist instrumental in founding the Vietnamese National Music Academy [Học viện Âm nhạc Quốc gia Việt Nam] in 1957.

His early career was hindered by the need to secure exit visas from the Vietnamese government. This was standard in Communist countries. In 1991, Đặng Thái Sơn emigrated to Canada, where he became a professor at the University of Montreal. He has also taught in the US, Germany and Japan.