Lee Ji-yoon "Concert Program Composed of Favorite Pieces by Bart?k, Jan??ek, and Others"

Selected as Resident Musician at Kumho Art Hall · Four Performances Including New Year's Concert on the 16th
Berlin Staatskapelle Concertmaster "I Want to Share the Joy I Felt in Berlin with Korea"

[Asia Economy Reporter Byunghee Park] "As a resident musician, I composed the first concert program with pieces by composers I truly love."

Ji-yoon Lee, concertmaster and violinist of the Berlin Staatskapelle, Germany, has been selected as this year's resident musician at Kumho Art Hall and will hold four concerts. The first stage will be on the 16th at the '2020 Kumho Art Hall New Year's Concert'. Following the New Year's concert, performances are scheduled for May 7, August 27, and December 10.

The composers Ji-yoon Lee chose for the New Year's concert are B?la Bart?k, Leo? Jan??ek, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, J?rg Widmann, Ernest Chausson, and Claude Debussy. Pianist Ben Kim, who won the 2006 ARD Competition in Germany, will perform as a soloist.

The New Year's concert begins with Bart?k's "Six Romanian Folk Dances for Violin and Piano." "I thought it would be a good first piece to open the new year because it creates a lively atmosphere. The next piece to be performed is Jan??ek's 'Sonata for Violin and Piano,' which is also one of my favorite pieces but is rarely performed. It is very unique and I feel there is no comparable piece to it."

Violinist Lee Ji-yoon is performing Bart?k's "Six Romanian Folk Dances" at a press conference held on the 14th at Kumho Art Hall Yonsei in Seoul.
Photo by Kumho Asiana Cultural Foundation

Ji-yoon Lee's main stage is Berlin, Germany. In September 2017, he became the first Asian and the youngest concertmaster in the 450-year history of the Berlin Staatskapelle. In May 2018, he was appointed as a permanent concertmaster. He said, "I plan my schedule at least a year in advance. I work about 35 weeks a year, and during the orchestra's less busy periods, I can perform in Korea."

Of course, the performance burden as concertmaster of the Berlin Staatskapelle is not light. The repertoire is vast, and he must handle opera pieces lasting over six hours. "During the regular concert season, we rehearse every day, and in the evenings, we sometimes perform different operas. When busy, I perform several different repertoires in a week. Rehearsals last three hours each, and some days have two rehearsals. I work almost every weekend and holiday. I usually rest on Mondays and Wednesdays."

Currently, there are three concertmasters at the Berlin Staatskapelle, including Ji-yoon Lee. "The three concertmasters are from different age groups. One is a professor at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts, and another is raising four children. We always discuss our schedules together. They try to give new concertmasters many good opportunities, assigning major pieces or solo performances. Personally, I am very interested in contemporary music, so I support and perform commissioned contemporary repertoire."

Violinist Lee Ji-yoon is answering questions at a press conference held on the 14th at Kumho Art Hall Yonsei in Seoul. [Photo by Kumho Asiana Cultural Foundation]

In March, he will perform Yoon I-sang's Concerto No. 2 at the Tongyeong International Music Festival, and in the fall, he will tour with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.

Why does he want to continuously travel back and forth to Korea and perform despite his busy schedule? Regarding his selection as Kumho Art Hall's resident musician, he said, "I really wanted to do it because there are no particular restrictions or demands, and I can perform the repertoire I want with the musicians I want to collaborate with." He also said that performing favorite pieces with favorite musicians shows Ji-yoon Lee not just as a performer but simply as a person.

It is also meaningful because he can meet Korean audiences. "I think Berlin is like 20th-century Vienna. I want to convey the musical exhilaration I felt while performing with musicians in Berlin to Korean audiences as well."

Kumho Art Hall is also a special stage for him. He debuted in 2004 in the 5th grade of elementary school through the Kumho Young Artist Concert at Kumho Art Hall. "It was a very meaningful stage because I performed together with my mother, who is a pianist."

Ji-yoon Lee studied under Professors Nam-yoon Kim and Jung-hyun Kim at the Korea National University of Arts, then studied with Kolja Blacher, former concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic, at the Hans Eisler Hochschule f?r Musik Berlin. He gained international recognition by winning the 2016 Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.