Yeol eum Son: The 2011 International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition Silver Medalist: A Special Event Performance and Reception
Yeol eum Son to perform at The Worcester Music Festival
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Mechanics Hall - 08:00 pm
Tickets: $39, $36, students $20/$15 at door. See "Ordering Tickets" on menu bar for discounts.
Overview
The International Tchaikovsky Competition first held in 1958, and then once every four years, is considered one of the major events in the international music community. Previous participants have gained international prominence and become established luminaries on the world’s leading concert stages. The winner of that first competition (in the piano division) during what was still the "Cold War" era was they young American named Van Cliburn, who achieved idol status thereafter and was sought after by every leading orchestra to perform as a soloist. In 1961 he was on stage for the 102nd Worcester Music Festival, performing to a sold-out 3,200 seat house at the Memorial Auditorium! Other winners over the years who have been part of Festival have included Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mikhail Pletnev, Vladimir Spivakov, and Denis Matsuev.
Winner of the Silver Medal at both the 2011 XIV Tchaikovsky International Music Competition held in Moscow and the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Korean pianist Yeol eum Son also received awards for Best Chamber Concerto Performance and Best Performance of the Commissioned Work. Join us for a very special performance and gala reception!
Van Cliburn's sensational victory at the First Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow in 1958 heralded a new confidence in the quality of American music-making, as well as a new era in cultural relations between East and West. Celebrating this remarkable achievement, a group of music teachers and citizens from Fort Worth, Texas created the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. First held in 1962, the Competition has established itself as a joyous festival dedicated to the discovery of the world's finest young pianists.
In addition to receiving significant cash prizes, the winners of each competition are awarded three years of career management and artistic services, including the booking of national tours for all six finalists. The winners of the Thirteenth Competition held in 2009 are currently concluding their second year of touring having performed over 350 dates, including concerts, recitals, master classes, and education/outreach events before thousands of people. These tours play a vital part in fulfilling the Van Cliburn Foundation's purpose of bringing the highest quality of music to audiences everywhere.
"Her no-holds-barred conquest of the Rachmaninoff finale brought the audience to its feet amid shouts of 'brava'." - Salt Lake Tribune, from a review of a Utah Symphony performance, with Conductor Keith Lockhart.
Related Sites
Program
Baldassare Galuppi: Keyboard Sonata No.5 in C major: Adagio Allegro Vivace
Claude Debussy: Pour les cinq doigts, d'aprés Monsieur Czerny from Twelve Etudes
La cathédrale engloutie from Preludes, Book 1
Pour les arpéges composés from Twelve Etudes
Général Lavine-eccentric from Preludes Book 2
La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune from Preludes, Book 2
Pour les octaves from Twelve Etudes
Felix Mendelssohn-Franz Liszt: Wedding March from A Midsummer Night's Dream
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Sergei Prokofiev: Sonata No.8 in B-flat Major, Op.84: Andante dolce Andante sognando Vivace
Program information is provided by the Van Cliburn Foundation
About the Artists
YEOL EUM SON
Pianist Yeol eum Son's supple and graceful interpretations, crystalline touch, and versatile, thrilling performances have caught the attention of audiences worldwide and resulted in numerous top prizes at international competitions. Most recently, she was awarded the Silver Medal at the XIV Tchaikovsky International Music Competition in Moscow, where she also received awards for Best Chamber Concerto Performance and Best Performance of the Commissioned Work. Ms. Son was awarded both the Silver Medal and the Steven De Groote Memorial Award for the Best Performance of Chamber Music in the Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition held in Fort Worth, Texas in June 2009. Already acknowledged as an artist to watch in Asia, Miss Son adds European and North American recognition and performance opportunities to her portfolio through her affiliation with the Van Cliburn Foundation.
A native of South Korea's Kangwon Province, the pianist drew international attention when she appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Lorin Maazel, performing Beethoven's Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 19 on the Philharmonic's historic tour to Seoul in 2008. She had also previously performed Liszt's Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major with the Philharmonic under Maestro Maazel on its 2004 tour of Asia. A favorite among international orchestras, Ms. Son has appeared with the Israel Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, and Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestras as well as the NHK Symphony and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestras in Japan and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra in Israel. She has performed with the Seoul Philharmonic, KBS Symphony, and every other major orchestra in her home country of South Korea, and is also a regular among orchestras in the United States, including the Pacific Symphony, Utah Symphony, and the orchestras of Greenville, Hudson Valley, Hartford, Springfield (MO), and Columbus.
Ms. Son is invited frequently to participate in international music festivals, including Germany's Bad-Kissingen Summer Music Festival and Reingau Music Festival, Poland's Beethoven Easter Festival in Krakow and Chopin Piano Festival in Duszniki-Zdrój, and the Portland, Bowdoin, Sanibel, and Ventura Music Festivals in the United States. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Considered one of Korea's most important pianists, Ms. Son was particularly honored to play at the 2007 welcoming concert for the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, at the U.N. General Assembly Hall in New York City. In the summer of 2010, she returned to the Bad-Kissingen Summer Music Festival, replacing Leiv Ove Andsnes in solo recital. She followed this with a recital at the Duszniki Chopin Piano Festival in Poland and a performance in Santo Domingo with the National Orchestra of the Dominican Republic at a gala event featuring the three medalists of the Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Ms. Son opened the 2010-2011 season with a residency in Tel Aviv, performing in solo recital as well as with the Israel Camerata. She appeared in solo and chamber recitals throughout the United States, Korea, Israel, and Turkey. In addition, she performed in concert with symphony orchestras such as Syracuse, Colorado Springs, and Wichita as well as the Sinfonietta Be'er Sheva under the baton of Arie Vardi.
In addition to her achievement at the Cliburn Competition, the pianist was the first place winner in Italy's 2002 Viotti International Music Competition, as well as the winner of Germany's Kissinger Klavierolympiade in Bad-Kissingen and the 2000 Ettlingen International Piano Competition. She won third prize in the triennial Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in 2005. Named Kumho Musician of the Year in 2005, Miss Son is supported by the Kumho-Asiana Cultural Foundation. A recording of her performance of Barber's Sonata for Piano, Op. 26 and Debussy's Preludes, Book 1 was recently released on the harmonia mundi label. This recording of her prize-winning Van Cliburn Competition performance joins her debut CD of the complete Chopin Etudes. Released in 2004 on the Universal Music label to critical acclaim, it was sold out within months and subsequently re-released. Her complete Cliburn Competition performances are at Cliburn.tv.
Yeol eum Son currently studies with Arie Vardi at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover in Germany, where she now makes her home. She holds a degree from the Korean National University of the Arts, where she studied with Dae Jin Kim. In addition to her busy performance schedule, Ms. Son is an honorary ambassador of her home city of Wonju, Korea and writes regularly for the Joong-Ang Times.
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