United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and
more than 30 United Nations ambassadors, including In-kook Park, attended, as did Consul General Young-Mok Kim.
Makgeolli,
Korean rice wine, was introduced to Carnegie Hall at
a pre-concert reception hosted by Samuel Koo,
president of the Seoul Tourism Organization. Sejong
also brought kimchi to Carnegie for the first time
at a reception for its 2007 concert in honor of
Secretary-General Ban.
The ensemble,
which performs under the artistic direction of
Juilliard violin faculty member Hyo Kang, consists
of some of the finest rising stars from Australia, Canada,
China, Germany,
Japan, Korea,
Taiwan and the United States.
Each member is an accomplished soloist and chamber
musician in his or her own right; together they form
a “dream team,” performing in cities throughout the U.S.,
Europe, and Asia. The Sejong Soloists perform music
from the standard string literature, but they are
also committed to new music, and have commissioned
works from composers such as Augusta Read Thomas,
Richard Danielpour, Eric Ewazen and Jay Greenberg,
among others. Based in New York, the
group has its second home in Seoul.
“I can hardly
believe I am upon my second decade with this
brilliant ensemble,” said Paula Zahn, who hosted the
evening and joined the ensemble on cello for the
holiday favorite “White Christmas.” “And I am just
as excited tonight as I was the very first time I
heard them play.”
The evening saw
the introduction of Seong-Jin Cho, (no relation to
Daniel), to
New York City audiences. The
16-year-old is already a celebrated pianist in
Korea and
Japan. He has already garnered top
prizes in both the 7th Hamamatsu
International Piano competition and the 6th Moscow Chopin Competition for Young Pianists.
Recently he participated in the Castleton Festival
where he played the Grieg Piano Concerto at the
invitation of Lorin Maazel.
Sixteen-year-old violinist and Julliard Pre-College
Division student Daniel
Cho was the winner of the 2009 Great Mountains international
Music Festival Competition. The two are scheduled to
record the Mendelssohn piece for Universal Korea
later this year. Their appearances were in keeping
with Sejong Soloists’ mission to foster the next
generation of musicians so as to keep classical
music alive.
“This was a
very meaningful and special moment all around: a
young composer’s work was played by young people
with incredible energy,” said Kang. “It is a proud
moment to discover such stellar talent and be able
to create an opportunity for them to perform at
Carnegie Hall, much to the delight of tonight’s
audience.”
The concert also featured celebrated American
mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, a graduate of
Rice University, the Juilliard School, and the
Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist
Development Program. Cooke
caused a
sensation as Kitty Oppenheimer in the
Metropolitan Opera premiere of John Adams’s
Doctor Atomic.
She was praised in
The
New Yorker
for
her “fresh, vital portrayal, bringing a luminous
tone, a generously supported musical line, a keen
sense of verbal nuance, and a flair for seduction.”
“With
dignitaries like top U.N. diplomats attending, we
are happy to partner with Sejong Soloists,” said Koo.
“The Sejong Soloists ensemble is a fixture on Seoul’s exciting cultural
scene, which counts more artistic performance of all
kinds on an average day than any other Asian city.”
About Sejong Soloists:
Renowned
for its exceptional dynamic style with ranges of
quartet-like precision to full orchestra resonance,
Sejong Soloists has established itself to be a
first-class string orchestra. The ensemble has
performed approximately 400 concerts on major stages
around the world, including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy
Center, Cadogan Hall (London), Salle
Gaveau (Paris), Suntory Hall (Tokyo) and
Seoul
Arts Center. The diverse
ensemble was founded by Artistic Director Hyo Kang,
a renowned violin professor at Yale University and the Juilliard School, to bring
performances, television and radio broadcasts, youth
development activities as well as philanthropic
endeavors worldwide.