The Korea Herald

지나쌤

Four top classical musicians to showcase duo dynamism

By Park Ga-young

Published : March 14, 2023 - 09:11

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Violinist Yang In-mo (left) and pianist Kim Da-sol (Credia) Violinist Yang In-mo (left) and pianist Kim Da-sol (Credia)

Four top classical musicians, including recent international competition winners Yang In-mo and Choi Ha-young, will showcase their virtuosity and harmony as a duo.

Yang In-mo, 28, the double winner of two prestigious competitions, and Kim Da-sol, also with an impressive track record, join forces to perform Webern’s Four Pieces for Violin and Piano, Op. 7, Brahms’ Sonata for Violin and Piano in G Major, Op. 78, Furrer’s Lied for Violin and Piano (1993) and Beethoven’s Sonata for Violin and Piano in G Major, Op. 78.

Yang won last year’s International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition as the first Korean winner and the 2015 Paganini Competition at the age of 19, which was the first time the jury awarded that prize since 2006.

The concert will mark Yang's first recital after winning the competition last year.

Kim Da-sol, 34, has his own impressive track record, winning the Nagoya International Music Competition at the age of 16 in 2006 and the second prize winner of the International Beethoven Piano Competition Vienna in 2021, which he shared with Austrian pianist Philipp Scheucher.

The Yang and Kim duo recital will take place on April 7 at Seoul Arts Center.

Pianist Sohn Jeung-beum (left) and cellist Choi Ha-young (Seoul Arts Center) Pianist Sohn Jeung-beum (left) and cellist Choi Ha-young (Seoul Arts Center)

Cellist Choi Ha-young, 26, and pianist Sohn Jeung-beum, 32, will form a duo to perform Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne for Cello and Piano, G. Scelsi’s Dialogo for Cello and Piano, B. Britten’s Cello Sonata in C Major, Op. 65 and W. Lutoslawski’s Grave (Metamorphoses for Cello and Piano) and Rachmaninoff’s Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 19.

Choi Ha-young won the 2022 Queen Elisabeth Competition for the cello, becoming the first South Korean cellist to receive the top honor at one of the most demanding contests in the world. She won first prize in several international contests, including the Krzysztof Penderecki Competition in Poland in 2018 and the International Johannes Brahms Competition in Austria in 2011 as the youngest winner ever.

Sohn took home ARD International Music Competition 2017, becoming the first Korean to win the competition. In 2011, he also won several other awards, including: second prize at the George Enescu International Piano Competition in Bucharest, a special prize at the Geneva Competition for the performing arts in 2012, second prize in the Val Tidone International Competition in Pianello Val Tidone (Italy) in 2013 and third place in the Isang Yung International Competition in Korea.

The concert, which will take place at Seoul Arts Center on March 29, is the sixth installment in a series of celebratory duo concerts for the 30th anniversary of the opening of Seoul Arts Center in its entirety. The series has featured violinist Chung Kyung-Wha Chung, pianist Kevin Kenner, violinist Kim Bomsori and Polish pianist Rafal Blechacz.