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M O NDAY , O C T O B E R 3 1 ,2 0 1 1
T HE WA S HI N G T O NE X A MI NE R
NIGHTOUTAROUND TOWN
HistoricHalloweenSpooktacular:Chil-dren can enjoy
trick-or-treatingthrough historic gardens. [3 p.m.Tudor
Place,164431stSt. NW]
An Expanding Subterra: Photographsof underground architecture
byWayne Barrar are exhibited. [10a.m. Katzen Arts Center, 4400
Mas-sachusettsAve. NW]
Some Like It Hot:Thelm starringMarilyn Monroe is screened. [6:30
p.m. National Theatre, 1321 Pennsyl-vaniaAve. NW]
Staffordshire Hoard: Thirteen hun-dred-year-old goldenartifacts
foundin England are exhibited. [10 a.m. National Geographic Museum,
17thandM streets NW]
The Black List:Photographic por-traits of dynamic and
inspiringpersonalities are exhibited. [11 a.m. National Portrait
Gallery,Eighthand F streetNW]
Cabaret Macabre: The dark musicalcomedy is performed. [8
p.m.Round House Theatre, 8641 Colesville Road,Silver Spring]
Domingo-Cafritz YoungArtists:Emerg-ing singers and pianists
perform with the Washington NationalOpera. [6 p.m. Kennedy Center,
2700 F St.NW]
More Than Meets the Eye:An exhibitshowcases special tools
andtechnol-
ogies used by scientists to observethe world. [10a.m. National
Museumof Natural History, 10th Street and Constitution Avenue
NW]
Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger:The rock duo performs. [8 p.m.
Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria]
Underground sceneRon Pope: The blues rock singer-songwriter
performs with Zach
Berkman, Alexis Babini, and How-ard Jennings. [7:30 p.m. Jammin
Java, 227 E. Maple Ave., Vienna]
Panic At the Disco: The two-piecerockband fromLas Vegas
performs. [6:30 p.m.9:30Club,815V St.NW]
ByEmilyCarySpecial to The WashingtonExaminer
Yoonie Han, winner of the 2011
Washington International PianoCompetition, has sought
newexpe-riences ever since winning theKorea NationalMusic
Competitionat age 15 and subsequently fendingfor herself in
theUnitedStates. The vivaciouspianist has chosento per-form
Beethovens Piano ConcertoNo. 4 at her Kennedy Center
debutsimplybecauseit is a newpiece forherand oneshe hasalways
wantedto perform.
Shebegan pursuing theartsas achild. Herrst choice
wasballet,but
she was thrown out of class at age10 because she was so fat the
boyscouldntlift her. Her nextchoice,thepiano, proved far more
successful.
I was 14whenmy father becamean exchange professor at
RutgersUniversity, she said. He had
always wanteda son, sobeinga tra-ditional SouthKoreanfamily, he
andmymother decided to returnhome when mybrother was born.I
chose
to remain and move to New York.Because I was too young to get
anapartment lease, my English tutor became my guardian.
Yoonie enrolled at Curtis Insti-tute of Music in Philadelphia
andquickly began accumulating thekindsof generousfriendswho
havehelped her along the way. Only oneof a handful of pianists
there, shegrew attached to her classmatesfrom many countries. Her
hostfamily continues to keep in regulartouch and even traveled to
Boston
forher debut there.After graduating from Curtis,she earned her
masters degree atJuilliard and began amassing doz-ens of honors
that have introducedher to major cities in this countryand Europe.
Currently, she is pur-
suing a musical doctorateat SUNYStony Brook and and a diploma
atthe Universite de Montreal.
Alongwith the WashingtonInter-national Competition sponsored
bythe Friday Morning Music Club, Yoonie won the rst prize and
the
audienceprize at the FulbrightCon-certo Competition earlier this
year.It will send her on a concert tourthe spring of 2012 to Los
Angeles,Miami, London and Germany.
All myawards have greatmean-ing, she said. I love competing
because you meet so many peopleand have such wonderful host
fam-ilies. The one I had in Mississippisaid I was like their
daughter, but
they couldnt pronounce Yoonjung,myKoreanname, sothey calledme
Yoonie. Ive usedit ever since.
Yoonie issuch a peoplepersonthatstrangersare drawn to
herinstantly.Manybecomepart ofher life. Thereis thecomputer expert
whotraveledfrom California to attend a com-petition. He had not
known of herpreviously, but he was so struck byhertalent that he
volunteered to setup her website, her YouTube site tohostvideos of
herperformances, andher Wikipediapage.
When I come back to theKennedy Center for the secondconcert in
this series, Ill playsome pieces from the Spanish pro-gram that Im
performing at thePhillips Collection in January, Yoonie said.
CONCERTS
Personable piano prodigys Kennedy Center debut
COURTESY PHOTO
Yoonie Han returns to Washington to perform Beethovens Piano
Concerto No. 4 at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater on
Wednesday.
IF YOU GO
Yoonie Han
Where: Kennedy CenterTerrace Theater, 2700 F St. NW When: 7:30
p.m. Wednesday Info:Free at the door on a
rst-come, rst-served basis
