Taking a Rain Check: Catching up with our Concerto Competition winners
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, GGS had to make the unfortunate decision to forgo the Concerto Competition for 2021, which would have taken place at the end of January. This competition provides an exciting performance opportunity for all GGS students and the chance to play live in Koerner Hall with the Royal Conservatory Orchestra (RCO). The preliminary round takes a full day for visiting adjudicators and students have 12 minutes to impress the judges with their interpretation of the solo of an orchestral work. The final round, taking place in Koerner Hall is a public event and an excellent chance to hear the finalists play the full orchestral work with piano accompaniment.
Winners of the competition are scheduled into the upcoming season to strut their stuff with the RCO, under the baton of a visiting conductor, but with the lockdowns beginning in March 2020, those plans were put on hold. Four recent winners (2019: Yu Kai Sun, violin BMus ’20; 2020: Jean-Luc Therrien, piano ADP ’20; Ji Soo Choi, violin ADP ’21 and Thomas Torok, piano BMus ’22) will have to wait to see when they will perform with the orchestra. We’ve checked in with them to see how they have been keeping busy in the meantime and would like to share with you the finals performances that took them to the top.
Yu Kai Sun, violin
Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 77 – Dmitri Shostakovich (Jeanie Chung, collaborative piano)
“I just completed my first semester as a graduate student at the Colburn School. Some of the musical projects I did this semester include researching, learning and recording music by BIPOC composers, writing an arrangement of cross-music genres and playing violin duos with my younger sister. I also have been part of an online teaching project with young musicians in Haiti. It has been rewarding to see the progress they can make in such a short period of time. For the coming months, I hope to enlarge my musical repertoire from all periods and genres. I was particularly drawn to works by Florence Price and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor in the previous months. I plan to record a few of these pieces by BIPOC composers with my colleagues from school. Outside of music, I have a particular interest in learning German and Spanish.
It is very easy to feel lost in the middle of this pandemic; I am with all of you on that. There is so much uncertainty ahead of us and no one knows how this pandemic will affect the arts fields in the long run. I do believe that finding a hobby of yours, whether learning a new language in preparation of a concert tour in that respective country, sight-reading the complete catalogue of the Beethoven quartets, or going to the municipal library and discovering fascinating books about music, science, politics; having a hobby will help you see time fly by. Give yourself some short-term and long-term goals (musical and others). Reaching them will make you feel accomplished. Hopefully, the pandemic will be over sooner than later and we will be able to find our true selves again.”
Jean-Luc Therrien, piano
Concerto No. 2 in A Major, S. 125 – Franz Liszt (Younggun Kim, collaborative piano)
“These past few months, I have mostly been working on different projects that will be happening in 2021. I was lucky enough to be selected by concert organizers and disc labels early in 2020, which gave me projects to look forward to this year including 2 albums (1 solo album and 1 duo album with a good friend of mine, French violinist Jean-Samuel Bez). We will be recording our first album in Europe in the summer. I'm also currently working on a recording project with my friend and cellist Mansur Kadirov (ADP’ 19), another alum from the GGS. I have also started to teach much more, which has actually taught me a lot and helped me to practice piano better!
This month, I have been working recording my debut solo album, which will be launched by the Spanish Label Orpheus Classical later this year. It will feature Claude Debussy's Preludes (1st Book) and my own transcription for piano of Franz Liszt's Symphonic Poem ''Les Préludes''. In March, I hope to be recording a solo recital in NYC as part of the Quarterfinals of the Honens Piano Competition. Other upcoming engagements include a potential performance with orchestra in Ottawa in April and a solo concert tour organized by Debut Atlantic in September, for which I was selected a few months ago.
The main advice I can give is this: if there's something you want to do or that you have been wanting to do but never did, just do it! Whether it's a new hobby, learning a new instrument, discovering more music/composers, staying active physically, cooking more, learning a new language, I think that it's a very important thing and that it will help you to be even more productive at what you do.”
Ji Soo Choi, violin
Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77 – Johannes Brahms (Ben Smith, collaborative piano)
“I have been keeping myself busy by taking on few virtual projects such as the #100daypracticechallenge on Instagram and taking part in various video projects on YouTube. I also have been teaching which motivates me to find new and fun practicing ideas for my students. It is extremely rewarding and exciting.
For the next few months, I am planning to continue to keep myself busy with few projects that I have in mind to record few of my favourite songs with my ukulele and violin for YouTube. But most importantly I am preparing new repertoire to put in my pocket!!
Keep thinking positively, we all have bad days and good days, but sometimes we forget that we can also enjoy the bad days as much as possible.”
Thomas Torok, piano
Piano Concerto No. 5 in F Major, Op. 103, “Egyptian” – Camille Saint-Saëns (Rudin Lengo, collaborative piano)
“This past semester has definitely been a challenge, and I'm sure many students at GGS would agree! My own experience with online lessons has been a positive one, and I've been fortunate enough to have had some in person lessons with my teacher James Anagnoson as well. I was thankful that smaller chamber groups (like sonata class) were still able to function in person. Being able to make music with someone else during this time, as well as having a beautiful facility to practice in every day is something that I don't take for granted.
This semester I'm very grateful for being able to have an end of year recital. Last year we had to send in home-made recordings which was the best option, although some students didn't think that a home recording was an accurate representation of their hard work. However, even if the rest of the spring semester is online, it's important to keep the big picture in mind.
It's a very strange time in the world right now, but it's important to remember that we as young artists are some of the most important people in the fabric of society. Music always brings people together, and it has never failed to do so. Live concerts and shows will be in more demand than ever before when it is finally safe to attend. In preparation for this, one of the things that has helped me is writing down the goals that I want to achieve by the end of this year. What are your musical New Year's resolutions? Seeing my goals on paper and revisiting them every month helps me to stay on track in my practice and work ethic.
Since social life has been very constricted by the pandemic, I think it's important to do at least three things every day that make you happy. For me, it can be as simple as going for a walk, eating good food, and watching a concert, movie or documentary that inspires you. At the end of the day, just remember that there are still so many performances to be had, and so many more amazing musical experiences for you to share. Let's use this time to prepare for them. Even though the future is uncertain, remember that luck is simply just when opportunity meets preparation: I'm looking forward to what those opportunities will bring.”