Meet Korean Winners of YouTube Orchestra

Video-sharing portal sites like YouTube are often a barometer for measuring the popularity of celebrities or a steppingstone to stardom, as was the case for amateur teenage guitarist Lim Jung-hyeon who attracted the attention of CNN and The New York Times a few years ago.

The newly launched YouTube Orchestra is a natural born child of the digital age. With enthusiastic support from renowned classical musicians like pianist Lang Lang and composer Tan Dun, the project recruited amateurs and professionals via the Internet. A jury of music experts chose 200 finalists, and over 12 million people from some 200 regions visited YouTube to vote for 90 winners that will play with maestro Michael Tilson Thomas at Carnegie Hall in New York, April 15. Of these, eight are ethnic Korean, including nationals living here and abroad, comprising the second largest group after Americans.

One winner is Kim Tae-shik, a 19-year-old studying mechanical engineering at KAIST. ``I just did it because I thought it would be fun, and I was really surprised to win,’’ he told The Korea Times in a telephone interview. A frequent user of YouTube, he saw the notice for the audition and submitted a part from the first movement of Brahms’ Symphony No. 4. He happened to have learned the piece through his school orchestra.

Never having majored in music, the young violinist said he was never stressed about playing. He began playing his instrument at age five and has since enjoyed it as a hobby.
``I’m really excited about making my first trip to the United States and it’s such a great honor that I get to play with professional musicians. I’m going to practice really hard so I don’t fall behind,’’ he said.

He performed on a large local stage for the first time last month and said he couldn’t wait to be in Carnegie Hall. ``My mom gets to travel with me so she’s happy, too,’’ he said. A fan of the American sitcom ``Friends,’’ he added that he looks forward to visiting Central Park.

Another winner based in Korea is cellist Lee Soo-jung. The 25-year-old studied music at Seoul National University and Germany, and now teaches at an art high school in South Chungcheong Province. Like Kim, she never expected to win with a solo from Rossini’s ``Overture to William Tell.’’

`` I’m so happy and can’t wait to go to New York,’’ she said. ``I read about the audition on my alma mater’s Web site. I was inspired a lot by video clips of players on YouTube and thought it was interesting. I decided to audition at the last minute,’’ she said. ``My family is excited for me, but they were a little embarrassed as well. If you’ve noticed it in my video, I made it in such haste, those are my bed sheets hanging in the background!’’ she laughed.

As a musician, Lee said she was shy at promoting herself. ``I just posted my video with no expectations, and I got so much positive response. I’m really thankful to Netizens,’’ she said. The cellist believes the New York trip will be self-transforming experience.

``My motto is to play with a happy heart no matter when and where, and not to think about my career or the stage. I can feel my music changing colors each time, and I believe playing with great musicians (in New York) will transform me,’’ she said.

The winners will make a five-day trip to New York, where they will take part in master classes led by premier musicians and rehearse at the Juilliard School before the Carnegie Hall performance. Tickets to the concert can be purchased at Carnegie Hall’s Web site (http://www.carnegiehall.org/). Video clips of the winners can be viewed at www.youtube.com/symphonykr.

Next Generation Artists Sparkle in Seoul

Youthful exuberance reigned in Seoul last week as Yundi Li, Sung Si-yeon and Alexander Gavrylyuk ― musicians who will lead the future of classical music ― took the stage.

Chinese star pianist Li made sure his Wednesday recital at Seoul Arts Center, the first in six years, would be unforgettable, making fans anticipate his next visit. The following evening at the same venue, conductor Sung lead the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra to create exhilarating rhythms opposite pianist Gavrylyuk.

Yundi Li's Poetic Pianism

As the youngest ever winner of the Chopin International Competition, Yundi Li is naturally associated with the musician. He displayed a different musical streak last year through the new repertoire of Prokofiev and Ravel, demonstrating a flair for rhapsodic melodies and primitive rhythms.

Somewhat ironically, however, it was the 26-year-old's return to a program of Chopin that, though inspiring a pang of nostalgia, demonstrated his ever-evolving growth as a musician ― and suggested that it is perhaps prejudiced to label him as a Chopin specialist.

An enthusiastic audience, including his staunch female fans, greeted the charming pianist. But the hall instantly hushed for his sweeping, balletic renditions of Chopin's ``Nocturne Op. 9, No. 2'' and ``Mazurka Op. 33.''

But the Romanticist shined through with ``Five Yunnan Folk Songs,'' a collection of Chinese folk songs arranged for the piano. Li certainly has an uncanny ability to beautify music, including even some of the most irking pieces of music like Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2. His poeticism was manifest in the melodious folk songs, through which he allowed crystalline tunes to glide like an autumn leaf floating upon a dancing stream.

As if to make the Chopin pieces seem like minor spices to the musical feast, he gave a polished performance of Mussorgsky's ``Pictures at an Exhibition.'' Finally, in response to the prolonged ovations, he gave two encores of beautiful Chinese folk songs. Afterward, members of the audience hurriedly flocked outside to get his autograph.

``It is logical that I am associated with Chopin. But at the same time, he has nothing to do with me, because I can play a wide-ranging repertoire,'' he was quoted as once saying. Indeed, the recital showcased Li's versatility, and moreover, it suggested how unfair it is to mention his name, without fail, alongside Lang Lang just because they are the same age and nationality ― because his musicality seems to know no frontiers.

Sung, Gavrylyuk's Synergy Effect

Li's powerful rendition of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2, a piece rarely played in Korea, remains fresh in the minds of many after his CD and tour last year. The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra's ``New Wave'' Series I featured rising pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk with the same piece, though with his own color and dynamism.

The 24-year-old Ukrainian held the audience in rapt attention with his exquisite technique, tackling particularly the long solo part of the first movement with jazz, with a striking sense of ease and spontaneity.

Conductor Sung Si-yeon, on the other hand, offered a sound that was more organic, rounded and ``organized'' than expected of the robust piece. While the Seoul Philharmonic could have been more reverberating in the third movement, it was nevertheless not without the certain magnetism necessary to match the virtuosity of the soloist and create musical synergy.

Whole minutes disappeared as Gavrylyuk displayed his natural artistry and expansive breadth of emotion, and concertgoers did not ― or rather could not ― let out a single cough between movements. But once the final notes resounded, the concert hall rumbled with ovation, which continued well into the intermission time. For the enraptured audience, the soloist offered ``Flight of the Bumblebee'' as an encore, showcasing more of his ``flying fingers'' (it seems Lang Lang no longer has monopoly over that nickname).

Gavrylyuk launched his career through international events such as the Rubenstein. His fame has only just begun to catch up with his immense talents that deserve greater attention. But he doesn't seem to have to wait long, as he will soon making a recording and concert tour of Prokofiev's complete piano concertos with the Sydney Symphony led by Maestro Vladimir Ashkenezay. In 2012, he will debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under the baton of Mihail Platnev.

Meanwhile, Sung shined with another Nordic repertoire. Last year, the assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra gave a colorful rendition of Sibelius's ``Lemminkainen's Homeward Journey.'' This time she took concertgoers on an invigorating ride into the Finnish composer's musical world with ``Pohjola's Daughter.''

Lastly, she wrapped up the evening with glimmering golden tones in Bartok's ``The Miraculous Mandarin.'' Her charismatic command of the dissonant harmonies showed why she won the Bamberg Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition.

The 34-year-old, chosen among the next generation of classical musicians by The Korea Times along with pianist Li, is a rising ``maestra'' to watch out for. Such young artists as Li, Sung and Gavrylyuk hush concerns over the diminishing interest in classical music.

Read my Next Generation Interview Series with Yundi Li or my recent
email interview with the pianist.
Read my Next Generation Interview Series with Sung Si-yeon.

Lang Lang: Mozart Meets MTV

Mr. Lang wearing the Adidas sneakers bearing his name

This is the 20th and last in a series of interviews with the next-generation of classical musicians. ― ED.

The 1981 Academy Award-winning film ``From Mao to Mozart'' documented the Western classical music scene in China as it emerged from the Cultural Revolution. The last 15 minutes of the movie showed an earnest 10-year-old playing the cello before Isaac Stern. This was none other than esteemed cellist Jian Wang.

Now a generation later, China is becoming a major market for almost everything, and it seems classical musicians are one of its hottest exports. If Wang represented a changing China, here are the faces of ``new'' China, pianist Lang Lang and violinist Chen Xi.

Lang Lang: Mozart Meets MTV

At 26, Lang Lang already has a ``best of'' album, and recently performed before 5 billion viewers at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.

It was ``unbelievable,'' he said about the opening ceremony in an email interview with The Korea Times. ``My heart is still pumping fast when I think about it. It was a miracle opening night, and representing the new generation of China this way was a really big honor.''

But Lang is more than just a Chinese star pianist. He's been like the big bang of the international classical music scene ― the Mozart of the MTV generation ― with maestros giving him the highest praise, Netizens not getting enough of him on YouTube and Adidas naming a sneaker after him.

``I can't describe him as a pianist, because you will only hear in my sentence the jealousy that I and all his colleagues feel,'' Daniel Barenboim said once. ``I'm sure he didn't show you, but you know, he has 11 fingers. He plays the piano like a cat with 11 fingers.''

Lang said music was the most natural thing for him: ``The piano happened to be the instrument I loved the most from the beginning. I think this is what you call instinct.'' The Shenyang native began playing at age three and moved to Beijing to enter the country's most prestigious conservatory ― bidding farewell to his mother to live in an unheated apartment. He had to hit the piano keys to keep warm and endure his austere father who would tell him to kill himself when he didn't measure up to expectations. This story, of course, is already familiar, and has inspired his two memoirs in English, ``Journey of a Thousand Miles: My Story'' and ``Lang Lang: Playing With Flying Keys.''

He said he wanted to inspire people through his books. ``I think that there are many things in the world you can dream of, but you are always afraid that it's a dream. I try to inspire people that everything is possible, and if you believe, you will eventually get it.''But the pianist's ultimate method of communication is, naturally, music. ``It's like you are talking to people or to yourself,'' he said. ``The amazing thing is, it is through that conversation between you and the music, between the composers' creation and your recreation, that you learn a new life… All of those things connect to your soul and help you to cross the barriers. Music is a very powerful art.''

He said he wants to paint different ``music colors'' and moods in each piece. ``Sometimes I like to start with lighter colors and go really light or go in the opposite direction,'' he said. He will be showcasing one of his favorites, Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.2, with the La Scala Philharmonic led by maestro Chung Myung-whun in Seoul, Sept. 10.

Read about violinist Chen Xi, Mr. Lang's childhood friend.