Profiles of Festival Artists 2011
Tong-Il Han
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Tong-Il Han has performed with many of the finest orchestras around the world such as the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Scottish National Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Monte Carlo Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Polish Radio National Orchestra, Budapest Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Russian National Symphony, among many others. His numerous recordings include Chopin's Twenty-Four Preludes, Four Ballades and Four Scherzos, eight Sonatas by Beethoven (including the last five), Sonatas by Schubert and Brahms, and a group of shorter piano works under the title "Music I Love To Play". He also has recorded Sonatas for Cello and Piano by Brahms, and Schumann's Fantasy Pieces with cellist Leslie Parnas. The CD titled "The Kennedy White House Concert" (the live concert given at the White House) has been released.
Tong-Il Han has taught at Indiana University, Illinois State University, University of North Texas, and Boston University. From 2005-2007 Tong-Il Han served as Dean of the College of Music at University of Ulsan, Republic of Korea and as Professor of Piano there, as Professor at Suncheon National University in Korea, and recently has taught master classes in piano at Yonsei University in Seoul among many other places. Currently, Tong-Il Han is Visiting Professor at Elisabeth University of Music in Hiroshima, Japan. As Artistic Director of the Tong-Il Han Piano Institute, he has held summer piano festivals in major European, American, and Asian cities. In Seoul he now mentors highly accomplished young pianists and is a long-time adjudicator at international piano competitions. Since 2006 Tong-Il Han has extended his musical creativity to Thailand as Co-founder and Artistic Director of the Chiang Mai Music Festival now enjoying its fifth year.
During the past year Tong-Il Han was soloist with Korea's leading orchestras (KBS, Seoul Philharmonic, Daegu, Busan and others) playing a range of concerti by Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, Liszt, and Grieg. Last March he was featured as soloist in Daegu Philharmonic's Osaka and Tokyo performances and in June he and Helen Lee will play Mozart's Two Piano Concerto in E Flat with this same orchestra. In autumn Tong-Il Han will return to Mexico to concertize and again this year he will serve on the jury of the New York Piano Competition and also on the jury of the Seoul International Piano Competition.
Seol-Hwa Kim
Seol-Hwa Kim has performed at Chiang Mai Music Festival since she was thirteen and now returns for her fourth visit at age seventeen, opening this year's Festival with her full piano recital. She has just completed her studies at Sun-Hwa Arts High School and has been a student of Professors Min-Sook Chun and Tong-Il Han. She is a prize winner of many piano competitions and the years 2009-2010 alone include the 2009 Osaka International Competition first prize, TBC Competition second prize, and International Student Music Competition first prize. January 2010 brought her Vienna debut at Bosendorfer Hall.
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Sangjun Shinn
Sangjun Shinn completed his undergraduate studies at Indiana University and his graduate studies at the American Conservatory of Music. He has won the Owenboro Young Artist Competition and the Carnegie-Mellon Young Artist competition among others and has been a member of ensembles such as the Columbus Metropolitan Orchestra, Hungary-Saravia Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Seoul Symphony Orchestra, and others. Sangjun Shinn has been concertmaster at the Ulsan Symphony, Busan Symphony, Seoul Symphony, United Korean Orchestra, and currently is concertmaster of the Daegu Symphony Orchestra. He also is Professor of Music at Kye-Myung University.
Helen Lee
Helen Lee completed her undergraduate studies on full scholarship at Indiana University and her graduate work also on full scholarship at North Texas University. Her active musical career includes performances in the United States and Asia and her playing has won the praise of great pianists such as Leon Fleisher. Helen Lee teaches in Singapore at the National Institute of Education and Nanyang Technological University and her reputation in Korea is growing as a superb teacher, chamber musician, and soloist. Helen Lee's musical gifts are matched by her exquisite gifts as a painter whose art is poetic and vibrant and for which she was named Painter of the Year in Singapore.
Dejan Yu
Dejan Yu completed his undergraduate studies at Yonsei University in Seoul and did his graduate work in London at the Royal College of Music where he was awarded the Anna Shuttleworth Prize. His teachers include William Pleeth (the teacher of legendary cellist Jacqueline Dupre) and Orlando Cole (teacher of two generations of cellists in the United States). He has been first cellist in numerous distinguished ensembles and has been invited as a leading orchestra member by the Sapporo Pacific Music Festival and the Asian Youth Orchestra. Dejan Yu also has been principal cellist in Kang Nam Symphony Orchestra, Busan Philharmonic Orchestra and currently is principal cellist of Daegu Philharmonic Orchestra. He is a member of Unison Quartet and is Adjunct Professor at Inje University.
