Jaemin Han

“Jaemin is an extraordinary talent. He is highly musical, and his playing is self-assured, defined by a disciplined nature; he possesses an ability to grasp a piece of music and bring it to life in his own right. There is such joy and spontaneity in his performance!” ‒ Myung-Wha Chung

Born in 2006 in Wonju, South Korea, cellist Jaemin Han came to international attention in May 2021 when he was awarded the Grand Prix of the George Enescu International Competition as the youngest prize winner in its history. Further prizes at the Geneva International Music Competition and ISANGYUN Competition followed, establishing him as one of the most exceptional young soloists to emerge in recent years.
Han has performed with numerous renowned orchestras, including the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, the Rotterdam and Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestras, Athens State Orchestra, Stavanger Symfoniorkester and Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, and Filarmonica George Enescu. Under the baton of conductors such as Jaap van Zweden, Myung-Whun Chung, Gustavo Gimeno, Andris Poga, Alexandre Bloch, Pietari Inkinen, and Shi-Yeon Sung, Han performs mainstays of the cello repertoire by Shostakovich, Dvořák, Tchaikovsky, and Haydn, alongside concertos by Isang Yun, Friedrich Gulda, and George Enescu.

In the 2024/25 season, Han embarks on an array of exciting projects, starting in South Korea on tour with Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and Renaud Capuçon. As part of his 2024 Residency at Seoul’s Lotte Concert Hall, he performs alongside violinist Kristóf Baráti and pianist Park Jae-hong and returns in December to give the Asian premiere of Donghoon Shin’s Cello Concerto ‘Nachtergebung’ as part of BBC Proms in Korea. This event is preceded by the concerto’s Scottish premiere in Glasgow, where Han makes his debut with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Ryan Wigglesworth. This season marks two further debuts with UK orchestras; the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Royal Northern Sinfonia. In Amsterdam, Han makes his debut at the Concertgebouw performing Tchaikovsky and Lalo on two occasions: with the Korean National Symphony Orchestra and with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie. Han also makes significant US debuts this season; with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, joining violinist Inmo Yang in Brahms’ Double Concerto, and in recitals at New York’s iconic Carnegie Hall and La Jolla Music Society. Further afield, he performs with pianist Alexander Malofeev in a series of recitals in Korea and makes his debut with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra in spring 2025.
In 2022, Han recorded a showcase recital on Stage+ by Deutsche Grammophone as part of their ‘Rising Stars’ series. He has also recorded Isang Yun’s Cello Concerto with the Korean National Symphony Orchestra and David Reiland for Decca Records, to be released in autumn 2024.

Coming from a family of musicians, Jaemin Han started playing the cello at the age of five and made his debut three years later in his hometown with the Wonju City Symphony Orchestra; he has since performed with all leading Korean ensembles. His exceptional talent was recognised from an early age when he won first prizes at the Osaka International Music Competition 2015, International Cello Competition ‘David Popper’ for Young Cellists 2017 and International Dotzauer Competition for Young Cellists 2019.

Jaemin Han is currently studying at the Kronberg Academy, Germany, under the tutelage of Wolfgang-Emanuel Schmidt, funded by the Strauss Family patronage.. Prior to this, he studied with Myung-Wha Chung, Kangho Lee, and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi at the Korea National Institute for the Gifted in Arts. He was recipient of the 2020 Shinhan Music Award and currently holds a scholarship from the Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-Koo foundation. He plays a Giovanni Grancino cello on generous loan from the Samsung Foundation of Culture.