Yoonie Han, Piano

Biography

South Korean pianist Yoonie Han is praised for her “flowing tones, poetic phrasing, and heavenly singing melodies” (Cincinnati Enquirer) and “her musical imagination and feel for complex textures drew vivid images” (Washington Post). She has won top prizes in distinguished international competitions and the highest accolades for her poetic performances in major concert halls in the U.S. and around the world.

In 2009, Ms. Han was honored with the Gawon Music Award as “a pianist aged 17 to 31 of any nationality who possesses the most promising potential for global prominence.”

She is the first-prize winner of the Washington International Piano Competition (2011), the Fulbright Competition (2011), Juilliard’s Gina Bachauer Piano Competition (2008), the World Piano Competition (2008), the Nena Wideman Piano Competition (2006), and the Kosciuszko Chopin Competition (2005), and has garnered major prizes at the Helsinki Maj Lind International Piano Competition and Milan Concorso Pianistico Ettore Pozzoli Internaziole. Following her 2001 grand-prize award in the Korea National Music Competition, the Korean Ministry of Culture named her its “most promising young artist.”

Ms. Han made her solo debut with the Seoul Philharmonic at age 13, and has since performed with the Berlin Symphoniker, Buffalo Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Banff Festival Orchestra, and I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milan, under such maestros as JoAnn Falletta, Leif Segerstam, Philippe Entremont, and Lior Shambadal.

She has performed at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Berlin Philharmonie Hall, Finlandia Hall, Slovak Philharmonic Hall, Frick Museum in New York, Salle Cortot in Paris, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Se-Jong Performing Arts Center in Korea, and in 2012~13, she made a recital tour of performances at the Steinway Halls in Europe and the US. Her performances have also been broadcast on WQXR-New York, NPR's “Artist Showcases", Chicago's WFMT, and many others.

Ms. Han received a Bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music studying with Eleanor Sokoloff, and a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School as a pupil of Robert McDonald. She is completing her Doctorate at SUNY Stony Brook, and continuing her studies with Philippe Entremont. Yoonie Han is a Steinway Artist.