Born in Korea in 1990, Joo Yeon Sir is a Scholar at the Royal College of
Music, where she studies with Dr. Felix Andrievsky, and has previously
studied at the Purcell School of Music. During her studies in Korea, she was
a major prize winner at numerous national competitions, from the age of six
onwards, and appeared as soloist with the Korean Philharmonic Orchestra at
the age of seven.
At sixteen she became the overall Grand Prix Laureate at the Nadjalka
Simeonova International Violin Competition in Bulgaria, and the following
year she received the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Emily Anderson Prize
Award 2007. She won Second Prize at the Windsor Festival International
String Competition, as the youngest competitor and highest placed violinist.
She has performed at various venues across the UK and abroad, including solo
and chamber recitals at the Wigmore Hall, Bishopsgate Great Hall, and for
the Elgar Society at St. James’s Palace in the presence of HRH the Prince of
Wales. She has given concerts with various orchestras, and appeared as solo
violin in a broadcast performance of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade at the
Queen Elizabeth Hall.
She holds many Young Musician titles, and prizes for performances include
the Ealing Festival Concerto Award, which resulted in her performance with
the ESO, the Challenge Cup and President’s Prize at the North London
Festival, the June Clements Memorial Medal from the Sevenoaks Three Arts
Festival, and ‘Prix de l’Hospitalité Musicale 2007’ from
Masters de Belesbat, which followed a recital opportunity in France. She is
grateful for generous support from the MBF, the Martin Musical Scholarship
Fund and the Royal Philharmonic Society.
Joo Yeon is also a composer, and won First Prize and the title of
BBC/Guardian Young Composer of the Year 2005 at the age of fourteen for
Conflict in Time, which was performed at the Wigmore and Cadogan
Halls by Endymion, and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Compositions for
the Purcell School included Cold Dark Matter; an Exploded View for
orchestra, inspired by Cornelia Parker’s sculpture, which was the
winner of the Purcell School Composition Competition 2007, and was premiered
at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in February 2008. She also received the highest
mark in the UK for A Level Music that year.
Engagements in 2009 include the Mendelssohn Concerto with the Sevenoaks
Symphony Orchestra and Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy with the Guildford
Symphony Orchestra. She has been invited to perform a recital as part of the
New London Orchestra Young Performer’s Concert Series in June.
February 2009