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Piano Duo & Solo Concert
by Ahn Sohyun & David Henry
June 2006
Biography of Sohyun Ahn (Pianist)
"…Shostrakovich's Piano Concerto was the first-half hit…Sohyun Ahn was a dynamo…
with panache and glittering clarity…was fluid and accurate.”
Classical New Jersey Society, June 2006
Sohyun Ahn has performed in the United States , Italy , Germany , United Kingdom , Portugal , Iceland , Japan , Malaysia , Brunei Darussalam and Korea . She was named ‘Best Performer of Year (2002)' by Eumak-Chunchu , Korea 's leading music critic magazine.
Born in Korea and educated internationally, her studies began at the Yonsei University and continued at the Tokyo National Geidai Conservatory. After her Master's Degree with distinction at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow , Scotland , she came to the United States , where she received her Professional Studies Degree from the Manhattan School of Music. Her principal teachers were Yu Kakuno, Klaus Schilde, and Philip Jenkins and Marc Silverman, Public Masterclasses were with Dmitri Alexeev, Richard Goode, Klaus Hellwig, Martino Tirimo, Anton Nel and John O'Conor.
She has won the Govornors' Recital Prize and the Bach Prize at the RSAMD, also the Korean Symphony Concerto Competition, the Asahi Breweries Music Foundation Award, the Yewon National Piano Competition and the Yookyung National Piano Competition. Sohyun was a finalist in the Dudley Millennium International Competition and the Naomi Foundation Competition and received the Semi-finalist Award from the Vianna da Motta International Competition. Her scholarships include the Japan Rotary Foundation Scholarship, the RSAMD Endowment Trust International Scholarship, the Yonsei Fellowship, the Broadwood Trust Awards, the Else and Lenard Cross Charitable Trust Award and teaching Assistantship from the University of Texas at Austin.
Along with Sohyun's busy schedule of solo engagements, she performs regularly with opera companies such as the Little Opera Company of New Jersey , the New Jersey Concert Opera, the Westside Opera and Belleayre Festival Opera. Recent performances include Carmen, Der Freischitz, Turandot, Un Ballo in Maschera, L' Elisir D'amore, Der Fledermaus, Don Quichotte, Magic Flute, and Cosi Fan Tutti, among others.
In 2006, Sohyun has been invited back for concerts in Southeast Asia where she made successful recitals and masterclasses including University College Sedaya International in Kuala Lumpur . She will be performing Mozart Piano Concerto at the Sejong Art Center with the Seoul Tutti Orchestra, and at Grace Church in New Jersey with the North Jersey Baroque Orchestra for the celebrations of Mozart's 250 th Birthday. Ms. Ahn serves on the piano faculty at the Westerhoff School of Music and the New Jersey Workshop for the Arts.
Biography of David Henry (Pianoforte)
David Henry is a highly acclaimed British pianist. His recitals have won audiences throughout the UK and Europe, venues including Birmingham Symphony Hall, The Queen's Hall (Edinburgh), The Royal Concert Hall, Hutchinson's Hall, Stephenson Hall (Glasgow), Leeds Art Gallery, Norfolk Arts Centre, St. Martin in the Fields, St. James's (London). He also performed at the Serpentine Gallery (London ), as a pre-concert to the BBC Proms.
He has received particular recognition for his interpretations of Beethoven and Brahms, while also being noted for presenting lesser-known works from the repertoire. His recent performance of the Brahms Quintet with the Edinburgh Quartet was hailed as “ impeccable ”. Of the Scriabin Fantasy , Opus 28, he “ set a standard for both preparation and execution of the piece ,” as reviewed by the Glasgow Herald.
As a soloist, he has worked many times with orchestra; his concertos include those by Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, and Mozart. He greatly enjoys musical collaboration, and has worked as orchestral pianist for the demanding Stravinsky Symphony in Three Movements, amongst other works. Modern ensemble performances include the works of Milhaud, Poulenc, Dutilleux, Shostakovich, Inness, Macmillan, and Judith Weir.
He was a scholarship student at the Manhattan School of Music, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama in Glasgow, where he received a Masters Degree and First-Class (Honours) Degree respectively. While at the RSAMD, he won almost all the solo performance competitions, which included the Bach Prize, the Governors Recital Prize, the Concerto Prize, and the Beethoven Competition. He was also a prizewinner in the Intercollegiate Beethoven Competition, held in London .
Awards have included the Sir James Caird Travelling Scholarship, the James Milne Scholarship, and the Inaugural Travelling Scholarship from The Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Glasgow . A particular honour was to be awarded a Wingate Scholarship, which enabled him to study under the legendary Eugene Istomin in New York City .
hile a student he also participated in public master-classes with many distinguished pianists, including Charles Rosen, Abbey Simon, John Lill, Dominique Merlet, Bernard D'Ascoli and Martino Tirimo. He also studied with John O'Conor at the Beethoven piano course held in Positano , Italy .
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