The winner of the International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition 2011, Soyoung Yoon is recognized as one of the most outstanding young violinists. Soyoung Yoon studied at the National University of the Arts with Kim Nam-Yun in South Korea and with Zakhar Bron at the Musikhochschule Köln and Zurich.

She started the competition circuit with an astonishing first prize at the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition by the age of 17 and continued with several prizes such as the International Tchaikovsky Competition, the Queen Elisabeth Competition, the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis and the International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in 2011, where she got the first prize.

Soyoung Yoon performs as a soloist with the Russian National Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, NDR North German Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bern Symphony Orchestra, Zurich Symphony Orchestra, Vienna and Zurich Chamber Orchestra and many more. She has already worked with conductors such as Maxim Vengerov, Krzysztof Urbanski, Krysztof Penderecki, Mario Venzago, Gilbert Varga, Muhai Tang, Justus Frantz, Gabriel Chmura and Saulus Sondetzki.

In recitals she was heard at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Musical Olympus St. Petersburg, Tokyo Santori Hall, Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center, Seoul Arts Center and the Moscow Rostropovich Festival.

Soyoung Yoon also currently serves as the First Concertmaster of Basel Symphony Orchestra.

Krzysztof Penderecki was born in Debica (Poland) in 1933. As a child he received violin and piano lessons and at the age of 18, went to study at the Conservatory in Krakow. In 1954 he began studying composition with Artur Malewski and Stanislas Swiechowicz at the Krakow State Academy of Music, where, in 1958, he was appointed Professor. One year later, Penderecki won all three available prizes at the Second Warsaw Composition Competition for Young Polish Composers. His breakthrough came with the 1966 performance of his St Luke Passion in Münster Cathedral, which brought Penderecki to the attention of a much wider audience. His first opera ›The Devils of Loudon‹, based on a story by Aldous Huxley, was premiered at Hamburg State Opera in 1969. At the time, Penderecki was Rector of the Music Academy in Krakow and was also teaching at Yale University in The United States.

Collaborations with various outstanding soloists such as Anne-Sophie Mutter, Mstislav Rostropovich or Boris Pergamenchikov led to a flood of new compositions. The piece ›Seven Gates of Jerusalem‹ was premiered as part of the 3000-year anniversary of the city of Jerusalem and his Symphony No. 8 ›Songs of Transience‹ – based on romantic poems by German poets such as Goethe, von Arnim and Eichendorff – was premiered at the opening ceremony for the Luxemburg Philharmonie in 2005.

Penderecki is one of the most revered musicians of his generation. He has won, among others, the North Rhein Westphalian Art Prize, the Sibelius Gold Medal, the Arthur Honegger Prize, the Polish State Prize and the UNESCO/International Music Council Prize. Since 1990 he has been holder of the Chevalier de Saint George and the Federal Republic of Germany’s Great Order of Merit.

Krzysztof Penderecki has been awarded honorary doctorates and professorships by numerous international universities.