Rabia Brooke: Violin Recital

Equally at home as a solo, chamber, and orchestral player, Rabia Brooke is an award-winning violinist whose performance experiences span a wide range of repertoire, styles, and collaborators. This season, Miss Brooke will perform at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium and Alice Tully Hall as a member of the Juilliard Orchestra, solo works at PianoForte Studios, Award Winner Concert Series in Preston Bradly Hall and premier works by local composer, Mischa Zupko.

Last season Rabia performed at the Aspen Music Festival under the baton of Michael Stern as member of the Aspen Festival Orchestra, gave solo appearances in Orchestra Hall, Musicians Club of Women in “Unaccompanied Women”, had solo appearances with the Northwest Symphony Orchestra, and had solo “Senior Recitals” on WFMT Introduction’s live broadcast, Fine Arts Music Performance Scholarship Series – Special Event, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Pianoforte Studios as well as local residential communities. She performed chamber with principals of the Lyric Opera Orchestra on the Pilgrim Chamber Players Series and with the Fifth House Ensemble.

Miss Brooke was honoured to perform under the baton of Maestro George Stelluto at Ravinia with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra for the Bernstein Celebration, at the Musique Dans la Gers Festival in France, with Rachel Barton Pine on the Buckingham Salon Series, solo performances in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, and on Make Music Now Series at Saint James Cathedral and Ganz Hall. Previous projects include: tour of Central Europe with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra; Curtis Young Artists Summer Program serving as concertmaster under the baton of Joshua Gersen of the New York Philharmonic; collaborations with Formosa Quartet and Black Oak Ensemble. Other projects include: European tour with Daniel Rowland for the filming of Beethoven Documentary; premiering and recording Athena Triumphant String Quartet by local award-winning composer, Stacy Garrop; perform solo and chamber works with Grammy-nominated banjoist Noam Pikelny and bluegrass band, Special Consensus. Miss Brooke has also been a featured artist at the Chicago Cultural Center’s Preston Bradely Hall and Cassidy Theatre as well as the Artist in Residence at the Buckingham Salon Series since 2011. She has performed in Chicago’s Schubertiade (2013 and 2016) as a violinist and pianist. Rabia has collaborated frequently with pianists Milana Pavchinskaya, Adam Marks, Ann Chang, and Beilin Han, among others.

Rabia has garnered numerous accolades noting her dedication in violin performance. She is a 2019 National Young Arts Foundation Merit Winner, recipient of the 2018 Musicians Club of Women Farwell Trust Award, and the 2019 Paul Vermel Young Artists Award. She is the winner of the 2018 Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, 2017 Curtis Summerfest Concerto Competition, First Place in 2018 Society of American Musicians Young Artists and Intermediate Competitions, 2018 Walgreens National Concerto Competition Senior Open Division Winner of Early Music Category and Strings Category, First Place in 2018 American Protégé Concerto Competition, DePaul Concerto Festival Winner (2014), First Place Violin 2018 Senior Division of Chinese Fine Arts Society, Illinois American String Teacher Association’s Concerto Competition (2018), and Enkor Concerto Competition (2018). As a (2019) Semi-Finalist of the Cooper International Violin Competition Rabia was a featured artist in the Honors Concert. Rabia has earned top prizes in the following chamber competitions: Overall and String Category Winner of the 2018 Discover MYA National Chamber Competition, Semi-Finalist of the 2018 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, 2017 Enkor International Chamber Competition, 2018 Barnett Chamber Competition, and First Place in 2017 Chinese Fine Arts Society Chamber Competition. She served as co-concertmaster of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and is a founding member of Asrai Quartet.

Passionately playing violin since the age of three, she has been honoured to study with Desirée Ruhstrat of Northwestern Bienen School of Music, Lei Hou of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Alexander Belavsky of the Lyric Opera Orchestra, and perform in master classes for Catherine Cho, Ani Kavafian, Daniel Rowland, and Rachael Kolly d’Alba. She was grateful to have the tutelage and mentorship of pianists Winston Choi and the late Deborah Sobol. Currently, she studies with Catherine Cho while pursuing her undergraduate degree at the Juilliard School.

Born in Shanghai, China, Beilin Han started piano lesson at the age three. After four years of studies, she won 1st prize at a young artist competition in Shanghai. Ms. Han attended the Shanghai Conservatory of Music for primary and middle school. She was the winner of the 8th Hong Kong International Piano Competition and was awarded the highest scholarship available in China. In 1996, Ms. Han recorded and sold her first CD, and in 1997,was accepted by Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore under a full scholarship. After graduating, Ms. Han attended the University of Kansas for her master’s degree as the only full scholarship recipient. There she studied with famous American pianist Jack Winerock and world-renowned Portuguese pianist Sequeira Costa. Under Costa’s instruction, Ms. Han won prizes in many prestigious competitions including first place in the Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Scholarship Competition, the Kansas City National Scholarship Competition, as well as the Naftzger National Young Artist Competition. In 2004, Ms. Han became a prizewinner of the “Vianna Da Motta International Piano Competition” in Portugal. In addition to the competitive world, Ms. Han was invited to perform at the 7th Annual World Piano Pedagogy Conference in Las Vegas in 2002 and was honored as a Young Artist in 2003. She was invited to perform Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with University of Kansas Symphony Orchestra, Mozart Piano Concerto in A Major (K.488) with T’ang Quartet in Singapore and Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 with Portugal’s Gulbenkian Orchestra.

Ms. Han has toured internationally as a concert pianist performing in China, Portugal, Spain, and throughout the US. Her performances have been heard on radio shows in Singapore, the U.S., and a television show in Shanghai. In 2008, Ms. Han graduated from Roosevelt University,  where she received her Artistic Diploma with Dr. Solomon Mikowsky and Mr.Meng-Chieh Liu.       

In addition to Ms. Han’s successful solo career, she enjoys collaborating with other musicians, she constantly appears in Chicago Culture Center, The Stradivari Society and Chicago Symphony Orchestra as a collaborative pianist and collaborating with such artists as pianist Alberto Portugheis, world-renowned counter-tenor Paul Esswood, world-renowned violinists Shmuel Ashkenasi, Ilya Kaler, Yossif Ivanov, Kyoko Takezawa, Elmar Oliveira, Frank Almond, Violists Roger Chase, Robert Vernon,  cellist Timothy Eddy, Flautists stefán Ragnar Höskuldsson, Jean Ferrandis, Clarinetist Stephen Williamson, Steven Cohen.She has also worked with world-famous conductors such as Riccardo Muti and Christoph Eschenbach.

Ms. Han was also invited to be on the jury panel of Walgreen National Concerto Competition and Dover Quartet Chamber Music Competition. She is currently the coordinator of piano faculty of Heifetz International Music Institute, collaborative pianist at Northwestern University Bienen School of Music and DePaul University School of Music.

Program:

Mozart Violin Concerto no. 5 in A Major
I. Allegro aperto

Brahms Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor

Dvorak Violin Concerto in A minor, op.53

J.S. Bach Sonata no. 1 in G minor
I. Adagio
IV. Presto