The Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) announces the winners of the twenty-first annual Lynn Harrell Concerto Competition, which took place on Saturday, April 16, 2022, at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. Victoria Han, 11, from Frisco, Texas, took home first prize and an award of $5,000 with her performance of Schumann’s Piano Concerto.
Han will perform the work with the Dallas Symphony as part of the annual Teen Concert on June 10, 2022.
Victoria Lahee Han, 11, was born in New York in September 2010. She started her piano journey at age four, taking lessons through her church in Hawai’i. By age seven, under the tutelage of Dr. Thomas Yee, Victoria made her competitive debut. Her move to Texas broadened her musical horizons under Mr. Konstantyn Travinsky. She currently studies under Alex McDonald and Marcy McDonald in Dallas.
Ms. Han’s accomplishments include: 2022 Piano concerto debut with the Lewisville Lake Symphony Orchestra, 2022 Grand Prize winner of the Lewisville Lake Symphony Vernell Gregg Young Artist Competition, 2021 recital at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., finalist and honorable mention at the 2020 Kirov International Piano Competition, gold medalist at the 2019 Seattle International Piano Competition, first place at the 2018 Steinway Piano Competition Hawai’i, first place at the 2018 Aloha International Piano Competition and second place at the 2017 Aloha International Piano Competition.
Victoria enjoys being a normal sixth grader at Pioneer Heritage Middle School in Frisco. She loves her classes, friends, ballet, school choir and track. She may be terrible at push-ups, but she can run like the wind. Though most of her time is spent at the piano, Victoria makes time for her family, pets and reading her countless books. She also longs for the beaches and the Aloha of her hometown.
Second Prize and $3,500 was awarded to Steven Lu, 16, from Plano, Texas. Lu played Conus’s Violin Concerto in E minor. Steven Lu began studying violin at the age of five and a half, and has since developed a passion and love for the violin and classical music.
Steven is the first prize winner of the 2017 and 2020 Collin County Young Artists Competition and the second prize winner of the 2019 National American Protégé Concerto Competition. In 2018, he was invited to perform at the Suzuki Association of the Americas Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Recently, he was awarded the first prize and grand prize of the 2022 Collin County Young Artists Competition and the second prize of the 2022 Juanita Miller Concerto Competition.
Steven has performed as a soloist in various concert venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Charles W. Eisemann Center for Performing Arts and the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. He has had the opportunities to play and participate in masterclasses for esteemed violinists such as Martin Beaver, Bion Tsang, Stefan Jackiw, Richard Lin, YooJin Jang and Augustin Hadelich. His past teachers include Charles Krigbaum, and he currently studies under the tutelage of world-renowned pedagogue and violinist Jan Mark Sloman. He is also mentored by violinist Diane Kitzman of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to playing the violin, Steven formally studies composition and is currently actively composing and orchestrating original works of classical music. In his free time, Steven likes to listen and discover new works of classical music, talk to his friends and play video games.
Third Prize and $2,000 was awarded to Christian Luevano, 18, from Corinth, Texas. Luevano performed Andrés Martin’s Concerto for Double Bass. Christian Luevano started studying bass at the age of five with Derek Weller in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In 2009, he moved to Texas where he studied with Gudrun Raschen until 2018. Christian currently studies with Jeff Bradetich. He has been a member of the noted Texas All-State Symphony Orchestra for all four years of his high school career and was selected twice as the #1 high school bass player in Texas.
Christian participated in the Perlman Music Program in 2019, was scheduled to attend the Boston University Tanglewood Institute in 2020, was a member of the National Youth Orchestra in 2021 and is a fellow with NPR’s From the Top where he will record and air in April 2022. Christian was a finalist in the International Society of Bassists Age 15-18 Division, was named a National YoungArts Honorable Mention laureate, won third prize in the Eismann Competition in Richardson, third prize in the Philadelphia International Music Festival Concerto Competition, first prize in the Rising Talents of America competition and second prize in the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition. Since 2019, Christian has been principal bassist in the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra (GDYO) and has been a part of the GDYO program since 2013.
Christian also performs in the lab orchestra for Miguel Harth-Bedoya’s Conducting Institute. When not playing bass, Christian enjoys working out, playing sports, hanging out with friends, playing Xbox or watching anime.
Honorable Mention and $500 was awarded to Ella Tran, 16, from Arlington, Texas. Tran played Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Ella Tran began taking piano lessons at the age of five and has been a student of Mrs. Marcy McDonald and Dr. Alex McDonald for nine years. She consistently received top prizes at the Dallas Symphonic Festival, the Dallas Piano Solo Competition, Baylor/Waco Piano Competition and the Texas Music Teachers Association state-level division.
Ella also won awards for six consecutive years at the Collin County Young Artist Competition, including first prize in the Junior division in 2019 and a grand prize with the opportunity to perform with the Plano Symphony Orchestra in 2022. Equally comfortable as a chamber musician, she was featured as a Rising Star in the 2019 Basically Beethoven Festival at Moody Performance Hall. In 2020, she had a privilege to perform the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Robert Carter Austin. Ella is currently a junior in the STEM Academy at James Martin High School in Arlington, Texas, and also plays violin in her school symphony orchestra.
Finalists Jacob Choi, viola; Lindsey Kim, violin; Austin Topper, cello and Danielle Yoon, cello were awarded $250.
Finalists at the Dallas Symphony’s 2022 Lynn Harrell Concerto Competition were selected through recorded submissions that were screened by a committee of DSO musicians and music faculty from area universities. The winners were determined by a panel of judges that included Jun Märkl, world-renowned conductor; Aleksandr Snytkin, DSO Violin I & II; Jolyon Pegis, DSO Associate Principal Cello, Joe Hubach Chair; and Giyeon Yoon, DSO Violin.
Established in 2001 by Harrell, the Lynn Harrell Concerto Competition is open to students ages 8-18 who live or go to school in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico or Louisiana. The purpose of the competition is to identify and encourage the highest level of musical talent in the South Central United States. Past winners have gone on to study music at such prominent institutions as the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Eastman School of Music, The Juilliard School and the Peabody Institute in Baltimore.
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra gratefully acknowledges Rita Sue & Alan Gold and Itske & Anthony Stern for their endowed gifts in support of the Lynn Harrell Concerto Competition.
Further support for the 2022 Lynn Harrell Competition was provided by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra League, Rebecca Vanyo, Roberta Corbett and Tom Corbett (in memoriam).
