Jaemin Han
Cello
Cellist Jaemin Han, born in 2006 in South Korea, gained international recognition in 2021 as the youngest-ever winner of the Grand Prix at the George Enescu International Competition. Additional accolades, including prizes at the Geneva International Music Competition and ISANGYUN Competition, as well as major debuts and tours over the last years have firmly established him on the international stage.
Han has performed with prestigious orchestras worldwide, including the Seoul Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, the Rotterdam, Tokyo and Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestras, the Tonkünstler-Orchester Vienna, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. Among his career milestones are the inauguration of BBC Proms in Korea with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, as well as debuts at Carnegie Hall and with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and appearances at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.
Collaborating with renowned conductors such as Myung-Whun Chung, Jaap van Zweden, Gustavo Gimeno, Andris Poga, Ryan Wigglesworth, Alexandre Bloch, Pietari Inkinen, and David Reiland, Han’s repertoire is extensive, from concerti by Shostakovich, Dvořák, Elgar, Tchaikovsky, and Haydn, to works by Isang Yun, Friedrich Gulda, Richard Strauss, and George Enescu. Han is also passionate about chamber music. His recital partners include Yunchan Lim, Alexander Malofeev and Janice Carissa, and he has also performed chamber music with Renaud Capuçon, Leonidas Kavakos, Janine Jansen and Sunwook Kim.
Recent appearances with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and Michael Sanderling in Switzerland and in Korea once again highlight Jaemin Han as one of the most sought-after young soloists. In the 2026/27 season, he makes a series of debut recitals in several German venues, including Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, with pianist Roman Borisov. In North America, he appears with the Omaha Symphony and returns to La Jolla Music Society as part of a West Coast recital tour with David Fung that also includes performances at The Colburn School in Los Angeles, Stanford Live, and at Vancouver’s Chan Centre for the Performing Arts. He also returns to the Seoul Philharmonic to perform ‘Don Quixote’ under the baton of Hannu Lintu, and reunites with Anna Handler for his debut with the Ulster Orchestra.
In 2022, Han was featured on the ‘Rising Stars’ series on Stage+ with a showcase recital. A selection of works from this recital are available on Deutsche Grammophon’s “Musical Moments” series. His recording of Isang Yun’s Cello Concerto with the Korean National Symphony Orchestra and David Reiland was released by Decca Records in autumn 2024.
Jaemin Han began playing the cello at the age of five and three years later made his orchestral debut. Han is currently studying at the Kronberg Academy under Wolfgang-Emanuel Schmidt, and his previous teachers include Myung-Wha Chung, Kangho Lee, and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi at the Korea National Institute for the Gifted in Arts. He was a recipient of the 2020 Shinhan Music Award, and is currently supported by a scholarship from the Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-Koo Foundation. He plays a Domenico Montagnana Cello, Venice, ‘Ex Hekking’, c.1738-42, generously loaned by the Samsung Foundation of Culture.
