Two weeks on tour through Germany, Portugal, Spain, Luxembourg and the UK is what Korean violinist Hyeyoon Park (pictured left) will have spent before arriving to make her debut with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra. This, the third concert in Summer Symphonies at the City Hall, will take place on Thursday, 31 October 2024. Jonathan McPhee will be on the podium for his final concert in Cape Town this time, says PETA STEWART:
This will be the only appearance of Hyeyoon. Even though the South African classical music landscape is quite small, ensuring that an artist is able to work with several orchestras or recital series is always a challenge. So when Hyeyoon was in South Africa twice over the last couple of years the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra was not able to engage her. Her recital for Cape Town Concert Series just whet the appetite and it has taken a while but she will be back in the country, and will perform the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No 1 in A minor with the CPO. Also on the programme are Nielsen’s Helios Overture and Falstaff, the symphonic sketch by Elgar.
it’s a long way from Bach to Shostakovich, but music is about emotions.
“Shostakovich is a composer whose music deeply moves me – especially the First Violin Concerto. I would say it’s one of my favourite violin concerti,” she says. “The pain, anxiety, frustration he endured during his lifetime was so immense; he always composed under the pressure that he or his family might be taken away by Stalin and could be killed. Thankfully, despite all this horror, he still kept on composing and expressed all these emotions through his music and he still communicates them with us to this day!”
Hyeyoon is the only professional musician in the family. “My parents are music lovers, but didn’t know much about classical music. However, I got into violin through my cousin, who was playing it for fun at the time. She was six. I was four. We had a vacation together where she brought her little violin along and played for us. I was mesmerised and wanted to learn it, too. It didn’t take me long to realise I wanted to be a violinist – just two years later I was accepted into the pre-college of Korean National University of Arts. By that point, I was already playing pieces by Vivaldi, Bruch and others and was instantly hooked. This is what I loved and wanted to do in my life.”
Music and good food!
She is looking forward to being in Cape Town which she already knows is a good food hub, and is hoping to have some time to try some restaurants.
“Apart from music, good food makes me tick. I find it’s one of the biggest joys of life. That and the communication you find in music. With fellow musicians on stage, or with the audience in the hall. Music is a language after all, and I’m still astonished how we can communicate feelings and emotions without exchanging a word; just by music.”
Hyeyoon is an incredibly busy musician since she works non stop performing concertos and recitals as well as participating in chamber music.
”It’s hard to say how I divide my time since planning can’t always be even and sometimes I’ll be doing one thing more than the other. I also enjoy teaching privately and presenting master classes very much because not only do I get to help younger people, but I also given an opportunity to reflect on myself/my playing while giving advice. So it’s a win-win situation!”
Busy schedule
Her current calendar includes performances at the Luxembourg Philharmonie, Palau de la Música Barcelona, Cologne Philharmonie and the Southbank Centre and with orchestras including the WDR Sinfonieorchester Cologne, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Cymru and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
A renowned chamber musician with collaborators such as pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, she regularly appears in major festivals and venues such as Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw, Moritzburg Festival, and Marlboro Festival at the invitation of Mitsuko Uchida. She also appeared with the Hallé Orchestra and Royal Northern Sinfonia alongside Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Benjamin Grosvenor in Beethoven’s Triple Concerto
She looks forward to the future.
“Thankfully there is still a lot of violin repertoire I’ve yet to discover and I’d like to keep developing as a concert violinist. Every experience on stage is a learning experience and a chance to grow.”
What: Violinist Hyeyoon Park with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra
Where and when: Cape Town City Hall on 31 October 2024
Tickets: Artscape Dial-A-Seat 021 421 7695 and Webtickets
WS