Laura Buruiana, cello

Romanian cellist Laura Buruiana (1980) was born in Bucharest and began playing the cello at the age of 10. She continued her education in her native city at the Georges Enesco University of the Arts and the National University of Music, working with Marin Cazacu. She currently studies with Frans Helmerson in Cologne.

A first-time participant in The International Holland Music Sessions in 2003, Laura studied with Johannes Goritzki and Harro Ruijsenaars. She was winner of the 2002 Young Concert Artists European Auditions in Leipzig, Germany and the 2003 Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York, earning five special prizes: The Jerome L. Greene Foundation Prize, which will sponsor her New York debut at the 92nd Street Y in March 2004; The Pennsylvania Prize, which brings concert engagements throughout the state; the Usedom Music Festival Prize, for an engagement in Germany; The Slomovic Prize; and The Miriam Brody Aronson Prize. She will make her Washington, DC debut at the Kennedy Center on March 21, 2004. Her 2003-2004 season also includes a recital at the University of Pittsburgh and a performance as soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Laura Buruiana has performed in Greece, Germany and France. In Spain, she has been heard in recital and as soloist with the Cordova Orchestra in Santander. At the Spoleto Festival in Italy, she has appeared in recital and as soloist with the Bari Orchestra. In her native Romania she has performed with numerous orchestras including the Romanian National Radio Orchestra.

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Hungarian pianist Martin Tchiba (1982) was born in Budapest and raised in Germany. Following studies in Hannover with Prof. Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, he currently studies at the Musikhochschule Saarbrücken with Prof. Thomas Duis. In addition, he has pursued master classes with Lazar Berman, Marie-Françoise Bucquet, Jan Marisse Huizing, György Kurtág and Jan Wijn as well as Prof. Kämmerling, many of them as a participant since 1997 in The International Holland Music Sessions.
He has given recitals throughout Germany and in Hungary, Austria and the Netherlands (inlcuding at the Concertgebouw), and he has toured Italy and Germany as soloist with the Sinfonietta Köln. He has been heard on numerous radio and television broadcasts. Mr. Tchiba is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including first prizes in the German competition 'Jugend musiziert' in 1999 and 2000 and awards from the German Music Council and the Federal State Capital Saarbrücken (Cultural Award 2002). He has also won awards as a composer whose compositions have been performed widely in Germany, Italy, Russia and in the Netherlands during International Gaudeamus Music Weeks in 2001.

Soojin Han, violin

Soojin Han (1986) was born in Korea and began playing the violin at the age of 8. Now a citizen and resident of the United Kingdom, she is currently a scholar at the Purcell School in London, studying with Dr. Felix Andrievsky. She has performed in recital and as soloist with orchestras in the UK, Europe and the United States of America in such venues as the Royal Festival Hall, Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Linbury Studio, Britten Theatre and Witold Lutoslawski Hall. She has broadcast on Polish and Korean Radio.

In the year 2001 she won second prize as the youngest competitor at the Wieniawski International Violin Competition in Poznan, Poland, where she was also awarded the Critics and Journalists Prize as well as the Listeners Prize by Polish Radio.

As a participant in The International Holland Music Sessions since 2002, Soojin has pursued master classes with Herman Krebbers.

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Gerard Boeters studied at the Rotterdam Conservatory with Istvan Hajdu and Luba Edlina-Dubinsky and continued his studies at the Conservatory of Amsterdam with Danielle Dechenne and Jan Wijn. He graduated in 1989 and has made a successful career as a solo and duo pianist. Gerard is accompanist at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, and at TIHMS where he has accompanied classes given by Herman Krebbers, Igor Oistrakh, the late Viktor Liberman, Igor Ozim, Eduard Schmieder, Erick Friedman, Aaron Rosand, Yfrah Neaman, György Pauk and Valentin Zhuk.

Chu-Fang Huang, piano

Chinese pianist Chu-Fang Huang (1982) is a student of Claude Frank at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is the top prizewinner of numerous international competitions and has concertized throughout major cities in China and the United States. She has appeared as soloist with the Pacific Symphony (California), Hong Kong Youth Symphony, Shenyang Symphony Orchestra, Eastern Symphony Orchestra, Fort Collins Symphony Orchestra and Hilton Head Symphony.

Her recital performances in the US have taken her to California (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Escondido, Irvine, La Jolla, Pasadena), New York, Denver, Chicago, Washington, Wilmington and Philadelphia. Engagements in 2003-2004 include a guest appearance at the Klavier Festival Ruhr in Germany, recitals in Chicago, a concert tour in Northeastern China and solo appearances with the Victoria Symphony, the Corpus Christi Symphony, the Hilton Head Symphony and the Illinois Philharmonic. Ms. Huang made her Carnegie Hall debut in November 2003 following her live recital broadcast over Washington Public Radio.

She attended The International Holland Music Sessions for the first time in 2003, studying with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and Mikhail Voskresensky.

Jean-Philippe Sylvestre, piano

Jean-Philippe Sylvestre (1982) is a graduate of l'École de Musique, Vincent-d1Indy and the Université de Montréal where he studied with Marc Durand. He is currently a student of John Perry at the Glenn Gould Studio of The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. He has also studied with Louis Lortie, Mikhail Voskresensky, Marie-Françoise Bucquet, Jan Marisse Huizing, Anton Kuerti, André Laplante and Menahem Pressler, several as a participant in The International Holland Music Sessions in 2003.

He is the winner of numerous prizes and awards, among them the OSM Competition in 2000 (first prize, the 'People's Choice' award and the Paul Merkelo scholarship), the CBC Radio National Competition for young performers in 2001 (second prize, the 'People's Choice' award and a special prize for best interpretation of the required work) and first prizes at various Canadian and regional music competitions. His prize at the 1997 Concertino Praga Competition included a series of concerts in 1998 as part of the South Bohemian Festival, and in 1999 he was invited to perform as a soloist and accompanist during the Czech and Slovakian Musical Encounters in Montreal.

Jean-Philippe Sylvestre has appeared with many orchestras in Canada. In 2003 he performed in recital and as soloist with l'Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal at La Place des Arts. In February 2002 he gave a recital at the National Arts Center in Ottawa, and in October 2000 he was chosen by Louis Lortie to perform with him at the Beethoven Plus Festival in Montréal. In addition, he has frequently taken part in radio and television broadcasts for Radio-Canada.