Tyler Martin & Beilin Han-Kim

For flutist Tyler Martin, the pandemic shutdown was a catalyst for rebirth; he competed in four music competitions and won or placed in them all. Martin also says that he began a paradigm shift during that time where he no longer saw himself as just a music student. He started to see himself as an artist who has a voice and has things to say.

Now, Martin is Performance Today’s newest Young Artist in Residence. And his participation in this year’s residency program came right on the heels of his recent win of the second flute and piccolo position with the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra. Martin already plays with the Missouri Symphony Orchestra, and he subs with the Houston Symphony Orchestra. He does all of this while finishing up his 2nd Master’s degree in flute performance at the Shepherd School of Music in Houston, Texas. Martin has also performed internationally in countries including Spain, France, Italy, Brussels, Switzerland, and the Dominican Republic.

In addition to performing, Martin is also passionate about teaching, music advocacy, and amplifying BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Color) voices in classical music. He is an avid performer of new and contemporary music. In 2019, he was named the Engagement Director of a 501(c)3 non-profit organization as part of the inaugural class of Nova Fellows at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. While in that role, Martin produced various workshops, residencies, and outreach concerts throughout the Boston community. Martin holds a Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree from DePaul University’s School of Music in Chicago, Illinois.

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, and cellist Timothy Eddy. She has also worked with world-famous conductors such as Riccardo Muti and Christoph Eschenbach.

Ms. Han is currently an Artist Collaborator at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. She joined the collaborative piano faculty of the Heifetz Institute in 2011 (where she now serves as the Piano Faculty Coordinator) and Cremona International Music Academy (Italy) in 2014.