Kate Flum and Beilin Han

December 5, 2018, 12:15 pm

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Flutist Kathryn Flum along with collaborative pianist Beilin Han present a program with music by Georges Hüe, Eugène Bozza, Gabriel Fauré, Joseph Schwantner, and Aaron Copland live on this Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert from the Chicago Cultural Center.

Flutist Kathryn Flum “wins the heart of her audience” (VisionTimes, China) with appearances hailed as “breathtaking” (PBS), “performed with just the right light touch” (Chicago Classical Review), and “poignant” (Chicago Tribune). Praised for her beautiful tone and musicality, she performs with the nation’s top musicians and ensembles at venues such as New York City’s Spectrum Hall, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, Civic Opera House, Pritzker Pavillion at Millennium Park, Harris Theater, Cultural Center, Constellation, and Fourth Presbyterian Church.

Kathryn performed as Principal Flute with the Chicago Opera Theater in the world premiere of The Invention of Morel, an opera written by Stewart Copeland, founder and drummer of The Police, and the Midwest premiere of Philip Glass’s opera, The Perfect American. She has performed as a member of the Artosphere Festival Orchestra (Fayetteville, AR) for their annual music festival. She returned to Fayetteville to perform with the Lincoln Center national tour of The King and I and she will perform with the Harry Potter Live Tour at the Arkansas Music Pavilion. Upcoming engagements for the 2018-19 season currently include solo performances and master classes in Chicago, Dallas, Fort Worth, New York City, Italy, and Australia.

Kathryn is heard performing in recordings from Chicago Recording Company Studios, 98.7 WFMT-Chicago, Carl Fischer Music Publications, and GIA WindWorks. She was a finalist for the Edes Foundation Prize for Emerging Artists, and is featured as soloist in Jens Jensen: The Living Green, the internationally lauded and highly awarded PBS documentary.

As an adjudicator for national and international competitions, Ms. Flum has served within organizations including the National Flute Association, Texas Music Educators Association, Music Teachers’ National Association, and ENKOR International Music Competition. Memberships include Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society, Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity, The Musicians Club of Women (Chicago), The Chicago Flute Club, and the Texas Flute Society Board of Directors.

Prior to beginning doctoral studies, Kathryn was a faculty member at DePaul University School of Music, where she was the Coordinator of Woodwinds and directed the Woodwind and Brass Chamber Music Program. Appointed by the Dean of the School of Music, Ms. Flum regularly served on curriculum planning committees. She is currently pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts under Mary Karen Clardy.

Born in Shanghai, China, Beilin Han started piano lesson at the age three. After four years of studies, she won 1st prize at a young artist competition in Shanghai. Ms. Han attended the Shanghai Conservatory of Music for primary and middle school. She was the winner of the 8th Hong Kong International Piano Competition and was awarded the highest scholarship available in China. In 1996, Ms. Han recorded and sold her first CD, and in 1997, was accepted by Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore under a full scholarship. After graduating, Ms. Han attended the University of Kansas for her master’s degree as the only full scholarship recipient. There she studied with famous

American pianist Jack Winerock and world-renowned Portuguese pianist Sequeira Costa. Under Costa’s instruction, Ms. Han won prizes in many prestigious competitions including first place in the Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Scholarship Competition, the Kansas City National Scholarship Competition, as well as the Naftzger National Young Artist Competition. In 2004, Ms. Han became a prizewinner of the “Vianna Da Motta International Piano Competition” in Portugal. In addition to the competitive world, Ms. Han was invited to perform at the 7th Annual World Piano Pedagogy Conference in Las Vegas in 2002 and was honored as a Young Artist in 2003. She was invited to perform Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with University of Kansas Symphony Orchestra, Mozart Piano Concerto in A Major (K.488) with T’ang Quartet in Singapore and Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 with Portugal’s Gulbenkian Orchestra.

Ms. Han has toured internationally as a concert pianist performing in China, Portugal, Spain, and throughout the US. Her performances have been heard on radio shows in Singapore, the U.S., and a television show in Shanghai. In 2008, Ms. Han graduated from Roosevelt University, where she received her Artistic Diploma with Dr. Solomon Mikowsky and Mr. Meng-Chieh Liu.

In addition to Ms. Han’s successful solo career, she enjoys collaborating with other musicians, she constantly appears in Chicago Culture Center, The Stradivari Society and Chicago Symphony Orchestra as a collaborative pianist and collaborating with such artists as pianist Alberto Portugheis, world-renowned counter-tenor Paul Esswood, world-renowned violinists Shmuel Ashkenasi, Ilya Kaler, Yossif Ivanov, Kyoko Takezawa, Elmar Oliveira, Frank Almond, and cellist Timothy Eddy. She has also worked with world-famous conductors such as Riccardo Muti and Christoph Eschenbach.

Ms. Han is currently a collaborative pianist at Northwestern University Bienen School of Music, DePaul University School of Music and Roosevelt University (Chicago College of Performing Arts). She joined the collaborative piano faculty of Heifetz International Music Institute in 2011 and Cremona International Music Academy (Italy) in 2014.

Biographies courtesy of IMFChicago

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