About

The next event at Cecilia’s Retreat, 1199 Oakland Rd., RR2 in Mahone Bay, takes place on Friday, August 30 at 7 pm. Pianists Anna Han and Yun Janice Lu, and violinist Soyoung Choi will perform a program which includes both solo and chamber works. Selections will include solo works by Ysaye and Rachmaninoff, Debussy Sonata for Violin and Piano, and piano four-hand arrangements of Bach and Schumann. This event celebrates the extraordinary opportunities for young musicians and concert goers through the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance (LAMP). The musicians are faculty members of the first Open Community Education Academy from August 27-September 2 at LAMP, and it will include free educational events and workshops, an open rehearsal and masterclasses (visit lamp.ns for program details). Musique Royale is honoured to support this event and to work in cooperation with its initiatives.

About the Artists

Anna Han – piano

Hailed by the Washington Post as “prodigiously gifted… a display of imagination, taste and pianistic firepower far beyond her years,” American pianist ANNA HAN strives to deliver heartfelt performances through a variety of classical piano repertoire. She is a laureate of many international competitions, including the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, Juilliard Bachauer Competition, New York International Piano Competition, Music Academy of the West Concerto Competition, and Salon de Virtuosi Grant. Most recently, she received the second prize at the 2023 Naumburg International Piano Competition, and first prize at the 2023 National Federation of Music Clubs Competition. She has given over 60 solo and 100 chamber concerts in such venues as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Alice Tully Hall, St. John’s Smith Square, New World Center, and the Phillips Collection; performed eleven different concerti with orchestras across the United States and England; and premiered multiple compositions, including Michael Brown’s Suite for Piano, which she recorded on the Steinway and Sons label. She is currently based in between the US and Germany, where she just finished her Artist Diploma at the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin under the tutelage of Sir András Schiff and Schaghajegh Nostrati.

Recent highlights include appearances at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland, the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance, Pierre Boulez Saal, Piano Salon Christophori, National Concert Hall of Taipei, National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying), Yellow Barn, Newport Classical Chamber Series, Schubert Club, Performing Arts Houston, Jordan Hall in Boston, Virginia Arts Festival, and others. Equally active as a soloist and chamber musician, she has appeared in recital with Kim Kashkashian, Steven Isserlis, Randall Goosby, Itzhak Perlman, Ida Kavafian, John Myerscough, Mon-Puo Lee, Leland Ko, the Verona Quartet, and the late Vincent Lionti. Her performance with cellist Madelyn Kowalski at the 2023 Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad received the André Hoffmann prize for the best interpretation of the commissioned work for the festival: Fuego Negro, by composer Diana Syrse. She is interested in all angles of story-telling through music; with the help of the 2021 Bita Cattelan Philanthropic Engagement Award from the Concours Musical International de Montréal, she is currently filming and producing a documentary about the effect that Covid had on a handful of classical musicians who performed in the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance in 2020 and now live all around the world.

Born in Mesa, Arizona, Anna began her musical journey in a class of four year olds at the East Valley Yamaha Music School. Classes in improvisation, ear training, composition, and other general musical skills at Yamaha would continue to supplement her training in early years. Anna started taking private piano lessons at age five with Mr. Fei Xu at New Century Conservatory in Chandler, Arizona. Over the following 13 years, he trained and inspired her to rapidly and thoughtfully learn demanding repertoire, developing a technique that undergirded her growing career at a young age. When she was eleven, she became the national first place winner of the Baldwin Junior Piano division of the 2007 Music Teachers National Association Competition, having barely made the age cutoff. In the same year, she made her orchestra debut with the Chandler Symphony Orchestra, playing Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

In the following years, Anna swept prizes at numerous international piano competitions, including the New York International Piano Competition, New Orleans International Piano Competition for Young Artists, the Gina Bachauer International Junior Piano Competition, the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition, and the International Institute for Young Musicians (IIYM) International Piano Competition, where she remains the only person in its 15-year history to have won first prize twice. She was named a Silver Award Winner by the National YoungArts Foundation in 2013, and a United States Presidential Scholar in the Arts in 2014. Her performances of Chopin earned her recognition as a scholarship recipient from the National Chopin Foundation of the United States and as a semi-finalist at the Ninth National Chopin Piano Competition of the United States.

Anna received her Bachelor and Masters degrees at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Robert McDonald, where she developed much of her interest in both chamber music and teaching. As a sophomore, she became the winner of the 2016 Juilliard Gina Bachauer Piano Competition, and received the Kovner Fellowship the following year. She received the William Schuman Prize for outstanding achievement and leadership in music upon graduation in 2020. During the first year of the pandemic, she completed a residency at the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance, where she performed different programs in fifteen of their concerts within five months, including nearly five hours of Beethoven’s solo and chamber as part of their Beethoven anniversary celebration. With the help of a grant from the Kathleen Trust, she has also completed a Professional Diploma at the Royal Academy of Music in London under the tutelage of Christopher Elton, where she was awarded the 2021 Sterndale Bennett Prize.

Anna is an alum of Yellow Barn, the Perlman Music Program Chamber Music Workshop, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music School and Festival, Juilliard ChamberFest, and the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival. A passionate advocate for the traditional masterpieces that have enchanted audiences for centuries, she has also explored new avenues of musical expression with an array of collaborators. She has presented the surprising sound palette of John Corigliano’s Chiaroscuro (1997) for two pianos tuned a quarter tone apart; Charles Wuorinen’s Metagong (2008) for two pianos and two percussion; a series of original arrangements of works for organ and piano duo in collaboration with organist Daniel Ficarri; Jerome Begin’s Strange Gardens (2015) for 2 pianos, 2 bass clarinets, 2 percussion, and vocoder; and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op. 69 as a fortepianist. She commissioned Malaysian composer Tengku Irfan [What’s Up, Kid? (2018)], expanding the literature available for clarinet, cello, and piano trio.

Anna gratefully acknowledges the support of the Stecher and Horowitz Foundation, the Kovner Foundation, the Kathleen Trust, and Arizona Musicfest.

Yun Janice Lu – piano

Yun Janice Lu is regarded as one of the leading Taiwanese pianists of her age and semi-finalist at the prestigious 2018 Geneva International Music Competition (Concours de Geneve) in Switzerland, winner of Chi-Mei Arts Award (2020), PianoTexas Young Artists Competition (2014), and Bronze medalist at Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition (2021).

Janice has performed in all major venues and renowned festivals throughout the States, Europe, and Asia including Van Cliburn concert hall, Weiwuying recital hall, the Hahn hall, the Studio Ernest-Ansermet, Walnut Hill Music Festival, Academie Internationale d’Ete de Nice, PianoTexas Festival (formerly known as the Cliburn Institute), PianoFest in the Hamptons, and Music Academy of the West. She played her debut recital at the age of ten and gave her debut performance at the Kaohsiung Cultural Center with all Beethoven repertoires including piano concerto No.4. Her orchestral debut at age of fourteen with the Taiwan Youth Orchestra at the Chih-Te Hall garnered considerable attention of the publishers who featured her in “MuzikOnline” magazine. Remarkable orchestral collaboration includes performance with Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Lio Kuokman. Her performance of Liszt piano concerto No.1 brought rave reviews from critics praising that “she captured Liszt’s style,” and “took full advantage of the fireworks.”

Not only a devoted soloist, but Janice regularly engages in many chamber music performances. Collaborations with artists include Miriam Fried, Michael Kannen, Peter Frankl, Steve Tenenbom, Ara Gregorian, Stephan Stirling, Alan Kay, and soloist from l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Her recent performance marks North American premiere of Ithaka by Helena Tulve with Lucy Shelton and Anthony Marwood at Yellowbarn chamber music festival. She performs consistently at concert series, including Four Season Chamber Music Festival, Taos Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Evergreen in Colorado, Yellow Barn chamber music festival, and Music@Menlo Chamber Music Festival. Janice has had the honor of working with prominent musicians such as the Brentano, Borromeo string quartets, members of the Tokyo String Quartet, Wu Han, Arie Vardi, Peter Serkin, Gilbert Kalish, among many others.

Born in 1996 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Janice began her piano studies at age of five. She moved to the United States to pursue studies with Ning An for four years at California State University Fullerton and earned her both M.M (Master of Music) and M.M.A (Master of Musical Arts) degrees under the tutelage of Wei-Yi Yang at Yale School of Music as the recipient of the 2019 Elizabeth Pariost prize and the Evelyn Bonar Storrs scholarships (The Musical Club of Hartford, Inc). She currently lives in Boston and continues her studies in the highly selective D.M.A program at the New England Conservatory with Alessio Bax and Alexander Korsantia.

Soyoung Choi – violin

Violinist SoYoung Choi (Daejeon, Korea) embarked on her musical journey at the age of four. She made her debut performance with the Sangrok Chamber Orchestra at seven years old, she has since performed as a soloist with eminent Korean orchestras such as Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra, Daejeon Philharmonic Orchestra. Her debut recital took place at the age of ten as part of the esteemed Kumho Prodigy Concert series, and she had solo recitals at the Daejeon Cosmopolitan Music Festival, the Daejeon Art Center, Boston, and New York.

An ardent chamber musician, SoYoung has performed at renowned festivals and venues such as Honors Ensemble recital in Jordan hall, the Ceramic Palace Chamber Music Series, Heredium Summer Music Festival Series, Mellon Music Festival, Schiermonnikoog festival, and the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance in Canada. She appeared at summer music festivals including Kneisel Hall, Taos School of Music, Heifetz Music Festival, Great Mountain Music Festival, Summit Music Festival, and Yellowbarn as well. In addition to her performing career, SoYoung is a dedicated leader and director of the Ahava Ensemble, an initiative that organizes benefit concerts to support cancer patients and children. After studying with Kowoon Yang and Ju-Young in Korea, she received B.M and M.M under the guidance of Miriam Fried and Donald Weilerstein. Following a Professional Studies Certificate from the Manhattan School of Music, SoYoung is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at MSM, studying with violinist Mark Steinberg.