Press

• ORF Vienna Symphony Radio Orchestra Debut

  Salzburg Festival

  Aug 2024

  • South Korean conductor and composer... programmed the world premiere of his “Gium (Longing),” as well as Bruch’s First Violin Concerto (with Maria Dueñas, another brilliant young artist) and Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique” Symphony. “Grium” unfolds like a musical scrapbook of Yoon’s memories from Seoul and Europe, of his travels as he was educated and came of age. Its harmonic language may be generically modern, but the piece is skillfully crafted, with an intuitive sense for orchestral writing and subtle nods that avoided being cheaply overt. (The clearest reference, to the chime of Big Ben, got a chuckle of recognition that belied how ambivalently and intelligently it was being used.) A piece so personal could, like the Bruch and Tchaikovsky, easily sink into sentimentality; Yoon, though, kept it all moving with unwavering vitality.

    • New York Times
    • 20 August 2024

  • In 'Grium' Hankyeol Yoon made the most of all the instrumental sounds and made them shine with effervescence - an intense stirring orchestral piece.

    • Salzburger Nachrichten
    • 12 August 2024

  • Dueñas gently allowed the prelude to blossom, which Hankyeol Yoon matched with accentuated drama in the full sound of the orchestra, before both gave in to the extended vocal lyricism of the Adagio. Yoon let the musicians play to their heart's content, starting with the opening bassoon solo and the waltz, which leads to absurdity with its weightless 5/4 time signature. Then, in the lament that ends everything, he allowed a correspondingly internalized calm to resonate, conveying a farewell. A performance worthy of Karajan!

    • drehpunktkultur.at
    • 11 August 2024

  • In Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique" the composers deepest despair and world-weariness, who died a few days after the premier, were palpable. All emotional climates were swept through, stirring large dynamic arcs of tension. Lyricism was savored and the music was played in a precise balanced manner.

    • Kurier
    • 11 August 2024

• Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Debut

  Florence, Italy

  Feb 2024

  • In the first part of the evening, the programme unfolded through an entirely Brahmsian repertoire, inaugurated with the 'Overture for an Academic Feast', rendered by Yoon particularly effectively in its more triumphalist tones; this was followed by two pieces with the additional contribution of the choir, the 'Lament op. 82' and the 'Song of Destiny op. 54'. While in the first piece, the conductor's ability to recreate the soberly solemn atmosphere emerged, in the second, Yoon outlined its meditative atmosphere with intensity, thanks to the excellent performance of the Maggio choir and an orchestra that was well shaped in terms of dynamics and timbre. There is no doubt, however, that Yoon's talents were fully manifested in Dvorak's Eighth Symphony, tackled by the young Korean conductor with passionate enthusiasm and, at the same time, with firm control of the orchestral masses; we recall, above all, the Adagio, splendidly designed in its expressive country stillness (the woodwinds were excellent here), interrupted by moments of greater dynamic force, and the Allegro finale, in which Dvorak's vitalistic spirit in Yoon's baton exploded in all its intensity, unleashing the enthusiasm of an audience (unfortunately not a large one) present in the Metha hall.

    • Pensalibero
    • 15 February 2024

  • Moving but appropriate gestures, he holds the Orchestra and Chorus of the Maggio firmly in place: the former responds to him with polish, fine solo sorties, enthusiasm; the latter with compactness and adhesion. Yoon is finally a conductor who knows how to make the music breathe, not throttle it, and shapes it with a flexibility of accents and dynamics that goes well with the generosity of the resulting sound. As for the results, the evening is a crescendo

    • Corriere Fiorentino
    • 13 February 2024

• Herbert von Karajan Young Conductors Award

  Salzburg, Austria

  Aug 2023

  • "Yoon Han-kyeol's conducting has charisma, is well-prepared and excellent in skill," said the jury at the main auditorium of the Mozarteum Foundation after Sunday's final round of the competition. "Watching him conduct, we could feel music was flowing out of his heart instead of looking like he was just pretending to conduct music."

    • Korea JoongAng Daily
    • 07 August 2023