Enormously talented, with a terrific temperament and a bouncy effervescent quality
“The Strad” 

After winning the first prize at the prestigious 14th International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition 2011 in Poznań, Poland, Soyoung Yoon (b. 1984) is widely recognized as one of the greatest violinists of her generation. After beginning violin lessons at age five, she rap­idly rose to stardom in her native Korea, winning the Music Chun-chu Competition, the Seoul Sym­phony Competition, the Republic of Korea Youth Music Competition, and the Unpa Music Award. 

Soyoung soon entered the world stage, awing audiences and musicians with her mesmerizing performances at the world’s finest violin com­petitions. She is prize winner of the top three violin competitions in the world, the Indianapo­lis International Violin Competition 2010, the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels 2009 and the Tchaikovsky Competition 2007 in Mos­cow. Soyoung started the competition circuit with an astonishing first prize at the 2002 Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition at the tender age of seventeen. One year later, she was the youngest violinist to win first-prize at the Cologne International Music Competition “Kulen Kampff” and was a finalist at the Hannover Inter­national Competition 2003. Her success contin­ued unabated: in 2005, she won the Tibor Varga International Competition where she also got Bar­tok special prize and was named “Best New Artist” by the Music Association of Korea. She went on to shock the music world in 2006 with her sweep of the David Oistrakh Competition, simultaneously winning the Grand Prix, Virtuoso Special Prize and Lutosławski Society Special Prize. Soyoung was also featured in a nationally televised documentary produced by WDR, “Der Weg des Meistergeiger” (The Journey of a Master Violinist). 

Much sought-after as a soloist, Soyoung has toured with orchestras including the Moscow Vir­tuosi Orchestra, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Phil­harmonie der Nationen, London Mozart Players, Sinfonieorchester des Norddeutschen Rundfunks, Sinfonieorchester des Westdeutschen Rundfunks, National Radio Orchestra of Kiev, Russian National Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra, Euskadiko Orchestra Spain, and the Trondheim Soloists. In close collaboration with eminent conductors including Mario Venzago, Gilbert Varga, Saulus Sondetzki, Muhai Tang and Justus Frantz, Gabriel Chmura. She has performed in world-renowned halls including Moscow’s Bolshoi Hall, the Moscow International House of Music, Tokyo’s Santori Hall, Tonhalle Zurich, Cologne Philharmonie, Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center, the Belgium Center for the Arts and the Seoul Center for the Arts. 

Her mentors include the venerated pedagogues Shlomo Mintz, Ida Haendel, Donald Weilerstein, and Victor Danchenko. After completing her primary studies at the Yewon Middle School for Arts and Seoul Arts High School in Korea, Soy­oung entered the Korean National University of the Arts as a “gifted musician” in 2002, studying under Professor Nam-yum Kim. After finishing her Bachelor at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, she has switched for her Master of Soloist to the Univeristy of Arts in Zurich, where she studies in the master class of Professor Zakhar Bron. At the same time Soyoung Yoon is a passionate chamber musician and a member of the renowned Zurich based Stradivari Quartet. 

Soyoung performs on the A.Stradivari “King George”, 1710 and J.B. Guadanini “ex-Bueckeburg”, 1773, Turin.

Soyoung Yoon's CD album released in 2012.

[2012]

Program performed during the 14th International Wieniawski Violin Competition (2011):

Stage 1:

J. S. Bach: first and second movement of a sonata for solo violin BWV 1001
N. Paganini: Capriccio No. 24 Op. 1
H. Wieniawski: Capriccio Op. 10 No. 7 (La Cadenza)
F. Kreisler: Recitativo and Scherzo-Caprice for violin solo Op. 6

Stage 2:

S. Prokofiev: I Sonata in F Minor Op. 80
H. Wieniawski: Variations on an Original Theme Op. 15
K. Szymanowski:  La fontaine d'Arethuse of Mythes cycle Op. 30

Stage 3:

W. A. Mozart: Violin Concerto in G Major KV 216 (first movement)
W. A. Mozart: first movement of Sinfonia Concertante in E flat Major KV 364/320d

Lech Bałaban - viola

Stage 4:

H. Wieniawski: First Violin Concerto in F sharp Minor Op. 14
J. Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D Minor Op. 47