HEYWARD’ S TRIUMPHANT BEETHOVEN
Elisabeth Competition for Cello. She also won the First Prizes at the 3rd Krzysztof Penderecki International Cello Competition and Johannes Brahms International Competition. During the Kronberg Cello Masterclasses, she was awarded the“ Landgrave of Hesse Prize” and Leyda Ungerer Music Prize. Most recently, she has been selected as the inaugural recipient of the FENDI Music Award.
Her recent highlights include performances with the Brussels Philharmonic, Belgian National Orchestra, Poznan Philharmonic, Kosice Philharmonic, Krakow Philharmonic, Boston Philharmonic, KBS Symphony, LA Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie- Orchester, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, European Union Youth Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony, and Filarmônica de Minas Gerais, as well as recitals in Boston, Washington and
Wigmore Hall amongst others.
In the 2025 – 26 season, Hayoung will make her debut with the Baltimore and Oregon Symphonies and the Bremer Philharmonic amongst others, as well as appearances at the Dresden and Z + Music Festivals. This season will also see the release of Hayoung’ s recording of Elgar and Lutosławski Concertos with Antwerp Symphony and Tomas Netopil on Fuga Libera.
Hayoung attended the Purcell School in the U. K. and received her Bachelor’ s and Master’ s degrees at the Kronberg Academy in Germany under the tutelage of Professor Frans Helmerson. Later on, she completed the professional studies program in Kronberg, in the class of Professor Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt.
Hayoung Choi plays on the 1707 ex-Starker Joseph filius Andrea Guarnerius cello on loan from an anonymous donor.
NOTES ON THE PROGRAM
By Paula Maust
Iman Habibi
Born: September 10, 1985 in Tehran, Iran; Residing in Toronto
JEDER BAUM SPRICHT( EVERY TREE SPEAKS) [ 2020 ]
Ludwig van Beethoven found solace and inspiration in nature, often taking his compositional sketchbooks with him on walks in the forest. He wrote,“ I am blissful, happy in the forest: every tree speaks through you. O God! What glory! In such a wooded region, in the heights there is peace …” It is from this particular sentiment that Iranian-Canadian composer Iman Habibi created Jeder Baum spricht(“ Every Tree Speaks”). Commissioned for the 250 th anniversary of Beethoven’ s birth, Habibi describes the piece as a reflection
SEP-OCT 2025 | OVERTURE | 19