Born in the United States of Chinese parents, pianist Derek Han’s elegant, polished and compelling playing has dazzled audiences across five continents. He graduated from the Julliard School in New York aged 18, having studied with Ilona Kabos. Other teachers included Gina Bachauer, Lili Kraus and Guido Agosti at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy where he was awarded the Diploma d’Onore in 1975.
Derek Han launched his international career by winning First Prize and the Gold Medal at the Athens International Piano Competition in 1977 with early engagements as soloist with the Sofia Radio Orchestra and numerous performances at the Marlboro Music Festival at the invitation of Rudolf Serkin.

Past seasons have included major tours of the United States and United Kingdom with the Berliner Symphoniker, European tours with the Moscow Philharmonic and Buenos Aires Philharmonic, a tour of South Africa with the Sinfonia Varsovia under Lord Yehudi Menuhin in a series of concerts celebrating Lord Menuhin’s 80th birthday. Derek has also toured the UK with the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra and South America with the Hague Residentie Orchestra. Recent engagements include appearances as soloist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Arnhem Philharmonic (on tour in Spain), Czech National Symphony, Moscow State Symphony, Budapest Symphony, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra (at the Royal Festival Hall, London and on tour in the Netherlands), concerts with the Warsaw Philharmonic in the Far East, a return to the Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires in performances with the Orquestra Sinfonica Nacional di Argentina, and concerts at the Berlin Philharmonie and Avery Fisher Hall, New York with Philharmonia of the Nations. In the United States Derek Han has also performed solo engagements with the St. Louis, Indianapolis, Kansas City and Utah Symphonies.

Highlights of last year include appearances at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest with the Camerata Salzburg, performances in Germany and Holland with the Nordwest Deutsche Philharmonic, a UK tour with the Philharmonie der Nationen, performances with the Chicago Sinfonietta and Berlin Symphony. Next season Derek Han will tour Europe with the Schleswig-Holstein Symphony, perform in London at the Royal Festival Hall with the Royal Philharmonic, a recital in Buenos Aires, and make chamber music appearances at the Australian Chamber Music Festival, Music@Menlo in San Francisco and the Finca Festival in the Canary Islands.

A prolific recording artist, Derek Han’s discography includes the complete piano concerti of Haydn and Mozart with the English Chamber Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra respectively. He has also recorded Beethoven’s complete piano concerti live at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with the Berliner Symphoniker, both Mendelssohn piano concerti with the Israel Chamber Orchestra and both Edward MacDowell piano concerti with the Chicago Sinfonietta. In addition, he has recorded piano concerti by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich, together with the complete Mozart Violin Sonatas, with Joseph Silverstein, and other chamber music works. His most recent recording of Chopin Piano Concertos with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has just been released by the RPO label.

From 1988 to 1990 Han was Artistic Director of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, and from 1990 to 1992 he served as Artistic Advisor to the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra. Derek Han is currently Associate Artistic Director of the La Musica International Chamber Music Festival at Sarasota, USA.