Hyung-ki Joo is British, but looks Korean, or the other way around, or both. He is a composer, pianist, conductor, inspiring student, YouTube sensation.

He started piano lessons at the age of eight and a quarter, and two years later won a place at the Yehudi Menuhin School. There, he discovered that he was among geniuses and child prodigies and was convinced he would be kicked out of the school. In the end, he was never kicked out but teachers and fellow students, such as Aleksey Igudesman, did kick him around in various parts of his anatomy, making the future of any offspring rather bleak. No matter how difficult those seven years at the school may have been, it only strengthened his love of music, and a while after graduation, he was chosen by Yehudi Menuhin himself to perform as soloist for his eightieth birthday concert at the Barbican Hall, London. You can see a tiny clip of them rehearsing on Hyung-ki Joo’s YouTube Channel: Joo rehearses Beethoven with Menuhin

Hyung-ki’s teachers have included Nina Svetlanova, Beryl Kington, Peter Norris, Seta Tanyel, Irina Zaritskaya, Vlado Perlemuter, Oleg Maisenberg, Richard Goode, and Ferenc Rados. He is eternally thankful to them for all their time, generousity, and sharing the gift of their knowledge.

Hyung-ki has small hands, (but only hands small), and therefore finds some piano repertoire quite difficult to play, such as the music of Rachmaninov, who had Big Hands.

Anyway, even with this small hindrance, he performs chamber music, recitals, concertos, his own compositions, and anything else that includes a good piano part.

www.hyungkijoo.com

Hyung-ki Joo led the workshop “Beyond the Practice Room” at the Allegro Vivo Summer Academy.
Registration for the workshop is possible when registering for a master class.

Yu Horiuchi

Since her debut as a soloist at the age of 16 under the direction of Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Yu Horiuchi has enchanted audiences around the world. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed in the Royal Festival Hall in London, in the Lincoln Center in New York, in the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, in the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, in the Wiener Konzerthaus and in St.James’s Palace.

Since 2007 tour with her project “Piano Tasting”, in which she compares two pianos on stage, the audience is informed about countless fascinating dimensions of the piano sound; since 2010 “Through A Spanish Window”, a joint project initiated by Yu with the performance artist Uma Ysamat and the painter Paco Duran, which unites Spanish music and Spanish art; other projects include performances of Igudesman & Joos “Manny Spring Sonatas” with the well-known duo and Emanuel Ax and “The Magic of 2 Pianos” with the pianist Hyung-ki Joo; In her latest solo project “PIANO + plus”, Yu reinforces her playing and the multitasking one-man band style. She combines the piano with an impressive array of other instruments that she plays – and sings – at the same time.

Born in Japan, she has lived in Germany since she was 2 years old. At the age of 14 she won a place at the Yehudi Menuhin School in England. Continued her studies at the Royal College of Music with a scholarship. Master of Music at the Juilliard School in New York.
Yu is one of the few artists who recorded the legendary “Rubinstein” Steinway for their solo CD “Meeting Rubinstei