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9/23/2011
By GARY DEMUTH Salina Journal
Last year, Sunwoo, a native of Korea, was the gold medalist in the piano division of the King Award for Young Artists National Music Competition, sponsored by Salina businessman Craig King and his wife, Brenda.Pianist Yekwon Sunwoo didn’t expect to be invited back to perform with the Salina Symphony.
He came in second to overall winner Itamar Zorman, an Israeli violinist who performed with the Salina Symphony during its opening concert in the fall of 2010.
So when Sunwoo was invited to play a piano concerto with the symphony during its 2011 opening concert, he was surprised.
“I thought only the grand prize winner got invited back,” said Sunwoo, 22, who has just begun a master’s degree program in piano at the famed Juilliard School in New York City.
Sunwoo will perform Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 3” with the Salina Symphony during their “Russian Rendezvous” concert Oct. 2 at the Stiefel Theatre for the Performing Arts, 151 S. Santa Fe.
The concert also will feature symphony performances of Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet” and Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Russian Easter Overture.”
The Rachmaninoff piece is considered one of the most technically challenging piano concertos in classical music. Sunwoo, who performed the composition at the King Awards in April 2010, considers it one of his strongest pieces.
“There’s a ton of notes to learn at the beginning, and it’s hard to make everything right,” he said. “But it’s one of my favorite pieces, and it fits in well with the theme of Russian music.”
World-class musician
Salina Symphony Executive Director Adrienne Allen said Sunwoo is a world-class musician who easily could have won the grand prize at the King Award.
“He was by far the jury’s top selection for the piano division,” she said. “He has a lot of energy on stage and is exciting to watch.”
Although there was no King Award competition this year, Allen said one is being planned for next spring. The winner, as always, will be invited back, to open the 2012-13 Salina Symphony season.
“It’s a great opportunity to have young musicians on the brink of their careers open the season every fall,” she said. “It’s going to be an exciting tradition for the symphony.”
Studying piano at 8
Sunwoo, who began studying piano at the age of 8, moved to the U.S. at age 15 to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, one of the nation’s more prominent music conservatories. He graduated last spring after six years at Curtis.
“I didn’t have a high school diploma when I came here, so I had to go to high school at the same time,” Sunwoo said.
By the time he enrolled at Juilliard, he already had an impressive resume. In 2009, he won the Florida International Piano Competition, which led to a performance at New York City’s Carnegie Hall.
He followed with victories in the King Awards and at the 2010 Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels, where he performed as a soloist with the National Orchestra of Belgium and the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia in Belgium.
He has played with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Morocco, the Orlando (Fla.) Philharmonic Orchestra and the Incheon Philharmonic and Daegu orchestras, both in South Korea. He also has given recitals throughout France, Germany, Switzerland and Morocco.
Career as concert pianist
Sunwoo said if everything works out as planned, he’ll have a career as a concert pianist and perform with some of the world’s great orchestras.
“I also want to give recitals and do chamber pieces,” he said. “Maybe later I’ll teach, but I’m not ready to teach yet.”
Challenging for musicians
The Rachmaninoff concerto may be Sunwoo’s strongest piece, but Salina Symphony conductor and music director Ken Hakoda said it’s been a challenge for his musicians.
“It’s a very complex language Rachmaninoff uses, and the rhythm is very complicated,” he said. “A typical pianist can’t play this — only the best player can. The pianist can take a lot of liberties with the piece, slowing down and speeding up, so for us to follow that will be very challenging.”
Hakoda believes his symphony musicians are up to the challenge.
“Last season, our overall performance level was very high,” he said. “The musicians were very proud to be in the symphony and very committed to what we do. As the conductor, I can ask more of them, and I believe the symphony is ready to play this level of material.”
Hakoda said the entire Salina Symphony season is full of challenges. The overall theme, “A Season for Romance,” focuses on music from the Romantic period (roughly 1830 to 1910) and ranges from French romantic music to love songs from popular movies, musicals and operas.
“It’s music that must be played with love and passion,” he said.
Reporter Gary Demuth can be reached at gdemuth.
