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Yoonie Han, winner of numerous piano competitions and currently Assistant Professor of Piano at Hong Kong Baptist University, has made a piano transcription of the 18th variation “Andante Cantabile” from Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”. This transcription also appears on her piano album “Hollywood Romance”, released in 2020.
The film “Somewhere in Time”, broadcast in 1980, also uses “Andante cantabile” as a love theme, and many people discovered Rachmaninoff through this film.
For me, playing this beautiful love theme creates a special bond with the audience. This transcription for solo piano will, I hope, enable other pianists to share in that transcendent experience. (Yoonie Han)
ユーニー・ハン（Yoonie Han）
Yoonie Han
Praised for her “flowing tones, poetic phrasing and heavenly singing melodies” (Cincinnati Inquirer), and “musical imagination and feel for complex textures that drew vivid images” (Washington Post), South Korean pianist Yoonie Han has won top prizes in distinguished international competitions and the highest accolades for her elegant performances in major concert halls around the world.
In 2009, Yoonie Han was honored with the Gawon Music Award as the “most brilliant 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, Fulbright Concerto Competition, World Piano Competition, Kosciuszko Chopin Competition, Juilliard’s Gina Bachauer Piano Competition, Juilliard’s Frederich Nordmann Piano Competition, Juilliard’s Chopin Piano Competition, Music Teachers’ National Association Piano Competition, Nena Wideman Piano Competition, and has garnered major prizes at the Helsinki Maj Lind International Piano Competition, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Prize, Concorso Pianistico Ettore Pozzoli Internaziole, Valencia-Paterna International Piano Competition, and Rencontre International Piano Competitions. Following her 2001 grand-prize award in the Korea National Music Competition, the Korean Ministry of Culture named her its “Most Promising Young Artist.” She is the recipient of “Brava!” award given by the Italian Academy Foundation, as well as an award from London Keyboard Trust.
Having made her solo debut with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra at Seoul Arts Center at age 13, Ms. Han has since performed with the Berliner Symphoniker, Buffalo Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Banff Festival Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Santa Cruz Symphony, Artosphere Festival Orchestra, I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milan, Gangnam Symphony Orchestra of Korea, Presidential Symphony Orchestra of Turkey, Eskisehir Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Festival Orchestra, New Amsterdam Orchestra, Philharmonic of Southern New Jersey, and Juilliard Symphony Orchestra. A graceful, sensitive, and powerful recitalist, Yoonie Han has played at such celebrated venues as at the Berlin Philharmonie, Concertgebouw, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Frick Collection, Symphony Space, Tanglewood Festival, Bergamo Festival in Italy, Salle Cortot in Paris, and Sejong Performing Arts Center in Korea. In 2012-13, with the supports from Fulbright Foundation, she toured major Steinway Halls in the U.S. and Europe.
She has recorded three albums with the Steinway Records. The first album ‘Love and Longing’ (2014) was “Album of the week” on WQXR and made the Top 21 on the Billboard Classical Chart. The second album, ‘Goyescas’ (2017) was released to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of the composer, Enrique Granados. The third album presents the complete ‘Le Rossignol Éperdu’ (2019) by Reynaldo Hahn. Her previous album ‘Romantic Piano’ (2013) was released on Concert Artists Guild. A devoted chamber musician, she’s a founder and pianist at Gloriosa Piano Trio. The trio’s debut album (2019) was released on the Centaur Records label. Her most recent album ‘Hollywood Romance’ (2020) was released on the Universal Music label.
Ms. Han received her Bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, her Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School, and her Doctorate from Stony Brook University.
She was an Assistant Professor of Piano at Bilkent University in Turkey in 2015-18. She is the founder and Artistic Director of the Istanbul International Piano Festival and Steinway Award in Turkey. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Piano at Hong Kong Baptist University.
Yoonie Han is a Steinway Artist.
Preface by Yoonie Han (in Korean)
고전 레퍼토리는 사랑을 나타내는 구절로 가득 차 있긴 하지만, 아마도 파가니니 주제에 관한 라흐마니노프의 랩소디에서의 안단테 칸타빌레보다 더 깊은 감동을 주는 것은 없을 것입니다. 이 아름답고도 화려한 곡은 Paganini의 Caprices, Variation 18에서 가져왔으며, 전 세계의 음악 애호가들에게 사랑받는 음악입니다.
Preface by Yoonie Han (in Chinese)
韩伦廷，多项钢琴大赛冠军，现任香港浸会大学钢琴系助理教授。她曾将尔盖·拉赫玛尼诺夫的《帕格尼尼主题狂想曲》第十八变奏曲《如歌的行板》进行了钢琴改编，这首改编曲后来也被发布在她于2022年发行的钢琴专辑《好莱坞浪漫》中。在1980年播出的电影《时光倒流七十年》中，导演巧妙的运用了拉赫玛尼诺夫《帕格尼尼主题狂想曲》中具有抒情浪漫特质的第十八变奏曲《如歌的行板》去表达爱情时光倒流的主题，许多人通过这部电影发现了拉赫玛尼诺夫。“演奏这首美丽的爱情主题，会让我与观众产生一种特殊的联系。我希望通过这首钢琴独奏曲能与其他钢琴家共享这种超凡的体验”（韩伦廷）
