Programme - 11 June 2010 Soojin Han was born in Korea and moved to the UK when she was 2. She began the violin at the age of 8 and entered the Yehudi Menuhin School before moving to the Purcell School to study with Felix Andrievsky. She then took lessons with Zakhar Bron in 2004. Under the close guidance of Kyung Wha Chung in her musical development, she took up her place at Oriel College, Oxford, to read music and is currently on a postgraduate course at the Royal Academy of Music. She has performed as soloist with numerous orchestras, such as the London Symphony, Poznan Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic, Korean Symphony, London Soloists Chamber Orchestra, L'Ensemble Ricercata de Paris, and has given concerts at nearly all of the major London venues and at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Witold Lutoslawski Hall, Warsaw, Adam Mickiewicz Auditorium, Poznan, Suntory Hall, Operacity and Bunkamura Orchard Hall, Tokyo. She has broadcast on Polish, Dutch and Korean radio. Soojin won second prize as the youngest competitor (and the youngest ever top prize winner) at the Wieniawki International Violin Competition 2001 in Poland, where she was also awarded seven other special prizes including the Critics & Journalists Prize and the Polish Radio Award. She also won first prize at the Tunbridge Wells International Young Concert Artists Competition 2002 and, most recently, at the Bayreuth International Competition. Other awards include the LSO Scholarship Competition 2002, the Musicians Benevolent Fund’s Manoug Parikian Prize 2001, the Royal Philharmonic Society's Emily Anderson Award 2002, an Allcard Award from the Worshipful Company of Musicians and awards from the Martin Music Scholarships Fund, the Hattori Foundation and the Countess of Munster Musical Trust. Her love of chamber music has taken her on several occasions to participate in Open Chamber Music at IMS Prussia Cove, Cornwall. Soojin plays on a JB Guadagnini kindly lent by Mr Charles Beare in 2Born in 1981, the Romanian pianist Irina Botan commenced her studies at the age of seven, attending the Dinu Lipatti Music School in Bucharest. In 1996 Irina was awarded a full four-year scholarship in order to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School in England with Irina Zaritzkaya. From 2000, she studied on a full scholarship at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Prof. Ronan O’Hora, where she received her Bachelor and Masters degrees in music performance. Irina is currently having regular coaching with the legendary Ivry Gitlis in Paris and with Prof. Naum Grubert at  Amsterdam Conservatoire. Irina Botan’s performances have included numerous concerts at London’s Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Covent Garden, Purcell Room, Conway Hall, Fairfield Halls, St. John Smith Square, LSO St. Luke’s, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, St. James’ Piccadilly, Leighton House, Snape Maltings (Aldeburgh), St. James’ Palace and Windsor Castle. She has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, as well as on BBC Welsh Television. Outside Britain, Irina’s busy concert schedule has taken her to Italy, Holland, France, Japan, Romania and North America, where her performances have included a televised concert at the World Bank in Washington DC on CBS. In Holland Irina has been invited to perform by the Young Pianist Foundation at the Bachzaal and the Schonbergzaal. In Romania, she has taken part in many recital and concerto performances including collaborations since the age of eleven with the Romanian National Radio Orchestra and the Bucharest Virtuosi, many of which were broadcast and re-broadcast due to public demand. Irina appeared frequently in Bucharest’s most prestigious concert halls, including the Romanian Athenaeum and the Radio Hall. Irina has won numerous national competitions and as a result of winning the music Olympics, she was awarded a prize by the Romanian President. Irina was also the first-prize winner of “Cava di Tirenni” International Competition in Italy. Recent successes have included the prestigious Ian Fleming Award, the Hattori Foundation scholarship and the Martin Trust awards.