Sunday, October 15th 2023 at 14:30
Jennifer Velva Bernstein Performance Hall
Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts
Kingston, ON, Canada

The Isabel Quartet starts off the 2023/24 season with two of chamber music’s most popular works: Mozart’s String Quartet nicknamed The Hunt, and Schumann’s highly virtuosic and expressive Piano Quintet, performed with Queen’s faculty member, Younggun Kim. Indigenous Canadian composer and cellist Cris Derksen’s single-movement 2018 quartet, White Mans Cattle, rounds out the program.

DETAILS

Finally finished memorizing WTC I and II a while ago.

Teaching other duties kept me busy, but here I am – still performing and standing and breathing and all. I look forward to be more active on my page – I have accumulated a lot to say over the pandemic years. What a time!

Finally had a chance to perform some of my beloved WTC (J. S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier) in Camrose, Alberta, Canada thanks to Dr. Roger Admiral who kindly invited me (and Dr. Ardelle Ries for her musical wisdom, hospitality, and one heck of a cake – burp).

Now I have some projects – most notably my solo recital with wonderful Katherine Semchuk who will choreograph her own dance to some pieces including Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 48-2, as well as dancing Peggy Baker’s wonderful choreography “Brute” to Prokofiev’s mighty (and bloody, both musically and in terms of the pianist’s hands after playing it) Sixth Sonata.

I also hope to present a memorized performance (or a few of them) of either one book of the WTC or both in a live concert. Still looking for a venue…

Good to update my whereabouts. Hope to see you in concerts or in other settings!

2019 was a busy year for me. I played Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 13 with Casa Loma Symphony in Toronto with Paolo Busato, and the late Kerry Stratton was in attendance; five days later, I flew to my native Korea to play Robert Schumann’s Kinderszenen and Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio with members of Korean Soloists (Myung-Hye Kwon and Jaesung Lim).

In May 2019, I played an interesting show with Korean pop artist Horan in Seoul. We collaborated on a repertoire that included anything from Bizet and Piaf to a traditional English ballad and Horan’s own songs; I played a solo set of Chopin, Poulenc, Kapustin, and Ravel.

Other concerts included recital engagements Vancouver and Toronto, and world-premiere of Walter Buczynski’s piano sonatas. I played many other chamber music series, including the Korean-Canadian Chamber Concerts, Music Friends in Vancouver, and the Arts and Letters Club recital.

My solo concerts in 2020 were to include a solo appearance with Georgian Bay Symphony, as well as other solo and chamber concert engagements in Seoul, Vancouver, and Toronto. As everyone now knows, the Covid-19 crisis made it impossible. But I could still play and communicate through online concerts and broadcasts arranged by organizations such as Georgian Bay Symphony and Centric MusicFest.

During the lockdown, I concentrated on J. S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Book I. Now the whole set is prepared and memorized. I look forward to playing this monumental and beautiful work for a live audience – let us all stay safe and healthy until then.

January 19th, 2019 Concert with violinist Sharon Lee details TBA

February 7th, 2019 “Plagiarism and Theft” solo recital at Walter Hall (Toronto) click for details

February 12th, 2019 Concert with violinist Sharon Lee at Timothy Eaton Memorial Church details TBA

March 2nd, 2019 Solo recital presented by Music Friends (Vancouver) click for details

March 3rd, 2019 Solo recital presented by Music on Sundays (Vancouver Island) details TBA

March 9th, 2019 4-hands recital presented by Music Friends (Vancouver) click for details

Younggun plays world premiere of Walter Buczynski’s Piano Sonatas Nos. 18, 27, and 30.

October 11th, 2018 at noon

Walter Hall, University of Toronto (80 Queens Park)

Click here for link.

KSP Trio presents its inaugural concert on August 18th, 2018 in Barrie, Ontario.

Click here for $20 Advance tickets

Younggun plays 4-hands piano music by Bach, Brahms and Kapustin with acclaimed pianist Matthew Li.

March 16th, 2018 at noon

St. Andrew’s Church, Toronto, Ontario (73 Simcoe St.)

Program:

Bach/Reger: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, BWV 1048
Brahms: Variations on a theme by Robert Schumann, Op. 23
Kapustin: Sinfonietta, Op. 49

For Facebook event, please click here.

Younggun performs Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in D minor and Piazzolla’s Winter in a concert presented by the KCCC.

St. George on Yonge (5350 Yonge Street, North York)

7:30 p.m. on Jan. 13th, 2018

Please visit here for tickets and more information.

“A late-night concert of piano greats presented by Yamaha Canada…at 10:00 p.m., featuring jazz legend Robi Botos and classical concert virtuoso Younggun Kim. This concert will mark the first opportunity to hear two of Toronto’s most gifted pianists grace the Imperial Bösendorfer.” (www.tapestryopera.com)

Younggun will play Les Soirées de Nazelles, FP 84 by Francis Poulenc, and works by Godowsky and Kapustin.

For more details, please visit http://tapestryopera.com/disaster-relief-benefit-concert/