Yeol Eum Son
Yeol Eum Son 손열음 | |
---|---|
Born | Wonju, South Korea | May 2, 1986
Genres | Classical |
Occupation(s) | Musician |
Instruments | Piano |
Labels | |
Website | yeoleumson |
Yeol Eum Son (Korean: 손열음; born May 2, 1986, in Wonju, South Korea) is a world renowned South Korean classical pianist. She is particularly esteemed as an interpreter of the Classical era of composers, especially Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, as well as such later composers as Mendelssohn, Schumann, Liszt, Rachmaninoff and Ravel. Son regularly performs as soloist with prominent orchestras and eminent conductors.
Education
[edit]Son took her first piano lesson at the age of three and a half. She made a recital debut on Kumho Prodigy Concert Series in July 1998. At the age of twelve, she started studying with pianist Kim Dae-jin. At age sixteen, she entered the Korea National University of Arts to continue her piano studies. At the age of 18, she recorded the complete Chopin Etudes (Op. 10 and Op. 25) for a CD on the Universal Music Label.[1]
In 2006, she began studying with Arie Vardi at the Hochschule für Musik und Theatre, in Hannover, Germany, where she currently resides.[2][3]
Competitions
[edit]Son was awarded the Silver Medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2011. At the Tchaikovsky Competition she also received the Best Chamber Concerto Performance and the Best Performance of the Commissioned Work prizes. The video of her performance of the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 at the Tchaikovsky Competition has received an estimated 23 million online views, considered a record for a live Mozart performance.[4]
She had earlier won the Silver Medal at the Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2009.
Son had also won the Bronze Medal at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition (2005). [5]
Career
[edit]Collaborators
[edit]Son has performed as soloist with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra,[6] the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields,[7] the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic,[8] the BBC Philharmonic, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra,[9] the Aurora Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Mariinsky Orchestra of St. Petersburg, the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, NDR Radiophilharmonie, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Philharmonie Zuidnederland, L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Basel Symphony Orchestra,[10] Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, RTVE Symphony Orchestra (Orquesta Sinfónica de Radio Televisión Española) Madrid, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, the KBS Symphony Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, the San Diego Symphony, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra,[11] the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra[12] and many others.
Son has collaborated with distinguished conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Sir Neville Marriner, Valery Gergiev, Sir Antonio Pappano, Jaap van Zweden, Yuri Bashmet, Vasily Petrenko, Omer Meir Wellber, Edo de Waart, Susanna Mälkki, Ivan Fischer, Mikko Franck, Karel Mark Chichon, Myung-whun Chung, Krzysztof Urbański, Alexander Shelley, James Conlon, Jun Märkl, Lawrence Foster, Dmitri Kitayenko, Ludovic Morlot, Andrew Manze, Pietari Inkinen, Ryan Bancroft, Jonathon Heyward, Joana Carneiro, Giordano Bellincampi and many others.
Performances and recordings
[edit]Son first drew international attention in October 2004 at age 18 when she appeared as a soloist performing Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1 with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Lorin Maazel on their Asia tour in Seoul, Daejeon, and Tokyo. Son again performed with Maazel and the New York Philharmonic when they returned to the Seoul Arts Center in February 2008, this time as soloist for Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 2.[13]
Son's recording in 2016 of the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields was the final recording of Sir Neville and has been widely praised.[14] Son composed her own cadenzas for this concerto. The recording was released on the Onyx label in 2018.[15] Marriner and Son had planned to record the complete Mozart concertos.[16] Son performed the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 in Seoul in 2017 as a memorial to Sir Neville Marriner.[17]
In 2019, Son made her debut at the BBC Proms festival at the Royal Albert Hall performing the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 15 with the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Omer Meir Wellber.[18]
In November 2020, Son performed the Beethoven Kreuzer Sonata with violinist Svetlin Roussev.[19]
In September 2021, Son performed the Beethoven Emperor Concerto with Pietari Inkinen and the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern in a broadcast event.[20]
In November 2022, Son performed the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 with the NDR Radiophilharmonie conducted by Andrew Manze in a broadcast event.[21]
In that same month, she performed the Ravel Piano Concerto for the Left Hand with Pablo Urbina conducting the Orquesta Sinfónica y Coro RTVE in Madrid.[22] Son had performed the Ravel Piano Concerto in G Major with the same orchestra in the previous season with Pablo González as conductor.[23]
In the season 2022-2023, she was artist in residence with Residentie Orkest (The Hague Philharmonic), Amare concert hall The Hague and Royal Conservatory of The Hague and recorded the Ravel piano concertos with the orchestra.[24]
In December 2022 Son performed the Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jonathon Heyward.[25]
In February 2023 Son's recordings of the complete Mozart Piano Sonatas were released on the Naive label. These met with enthusiastic critical response and the release was named Classic FM Album of the Week.[26]
Son participated in the 2023 Rosendal Chamber Music Festival in Norway which featured chamber music of Brahms. She collaborated with violinist James Ehnes in the festival's opening performance, Brahms Violin and Piano Sonata No. 1.[27][28][29] Later in the festival she performed the Brahms Clarinet and Piano Sonata No. 2 with clarinetist Sharon Kam, the Brahms Piano Trio No. 2 Op. 87 with violinist Ehnes and cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason,[30][31] and the Brahms F-A-E Scherzo for violin and piano with the violinist Svetlin Roussev.[32]
Son gave a recital at the 2023 Edinburgh Festival performing the Beethoven Hammerklavier Sonata in an acclaimed BBC broadcast concert.[33][34][35]
To celebrate the 150th anniversary of Rachmaninoff's birth, Son and the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern conducted by Pietari Inkinen toured in September 2023 in eight concerts mostly in South Korea featuring the Rachmaninoff Third Piano Concerto.[36]
On 28 October 2023 Son performed Liszt's Totentanz with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano.[37][38] One critic wrote of Son's achievement with Pappano and the LSO that "...we heard Yeol Eum Son in Liszt’s Totentanz. “Tour de force” could equally have been its title, for it makes huge demands on the soloist. It seemed, however, that Yeol Eum Son hardly noticed, so complete was her control over Liszt’s taxing variations. It was a superb performance."[39]
Son's debut with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and music director Otto Tausk in the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20 in November 2023 elicited a review that "her patrician elegance and clean, sharply-chiseled performance were exemplary...very much in the spirit of Mozart's era."[40]
In December 2024, Son performs the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 2 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jonathon Heyward.
Son will perform the Bartók Piano Concerto No. 3 in March 2025 with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Roberto Gonzalez-Monjas.
Son will perform the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 24 in April 2025 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Ryan Bancroft.
Son performed the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 2 with the National Arts Centre Orchestra conducted by Joana Carneiro in Ottawa in June 2024,[41][42]
In May 2025, she will perform the Ravel Piano Concerto in G major in Ottawa with the National Arts Centre Orchestra conducted by Alexander Shelley at the National Arts Centre and the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 22 in Toronto with the National Arts Centre Orchestra conducted by Alexander Shelley at Roy Thomson Hall as part of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra regular season series.[43]
Performing style
[edit]In a very wide repertoire, she is acclaimed in the performance of music from the Classical era (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven) as well as many other composers such as Schumann, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Liszt,[44][45] Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Gershwin,[46] Stravinsky,[47] Prokofiev, Shostakovich and recent composers.
Her performance style is characterized by clarity of texture and of melodic lines and by expressive authenticity.
Music Director
[edit]Son held the position of Artistic Director of Music in PyeongChang, one of South Korea’s largest classical music festivals, from 2018 to 2022. She was acclaimed for her creative and innovative programming and Son engaged many renowned solo musicians from around the world to participate in the festival.
Son had been and continued to be a frequent performer at the festival, including in such works as the Brahms Piano Quartet in C minor,[48] the Rachmaninoff Cello and Piano Sonata in G minor Op. 19,[49] the Ravel Piano Trio[50] and the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 22.[51]
Writing career
[edit]Beginning May 2010, she wrote a monthly column for JoongAng Sunday, the Sunday edition of JoongAng Ilbo, one of Korea's most widely read newspapers.[52] This was compiled as a book in 2015.[53]
Awards
[edit]- 1997: 2nd Prize, International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians
- 1999: 1st Prize, Oberlin International Piano Competition
- 2001: 1st Prize, The 7th Ettlingen Piano Competition
- 2002: 1st Prize, 53rd Viotti International Music Competition
- 2005: 3rd Prize, Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition. Finalist, XV International Chopin Piano Competition
- 2008: 1st Prize, Piano Competition Kissinger Klavierolymp, related to the festival Kissinger Sommer[54]
- 2009: Silver Medal and Steven De Groote Memorial Award for the Best Performance of Chamber Music (shared with Evgeni Bozhanov), Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
- 2011: 2nd Prize overall, Silver Medal, also winner Best Chamber Concerto (Mozart Concerto) Performance, winner Best Performance of the Commissioned Work (by Rodion Shchedrin) XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition[55]
Discography
[edit]- 2004: "Chopin: 24 Etudes" (Universal Music)
- 2008: "Chopin: Nocturnes for Piano and Orchestra" (Universal Music)
- 2009: "13th Van Cliburn Competition: Yeol Eum Son, Silver Medalist" (Harmonia Mundi)
- 2012: "Yeol Eum Son, Piano" (O'new World Music)
- 2016: "Schumann & Brahms: Sonatas, Romances" (Decca Classics)[56]
- 2016: "Modern Times: Berg, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Ravel" (Decca Classics)[57]
- 2018: "Mozart: Piano Concerto No.21 K467 / Sonata No.10 K330" (Onyx Classics)[58]
- 2020: "Schumann: Fantasy in C – Kreisleriana – Arabesque" (Onyx Classics)[59]
- 2021: "Kapustin" (Onyx Classics)[60]
- 2023: "Mozart: Complete Piano Sonatas" (Naïve Records)[61]
References
[edit]- ^ "Yeol Eum Son (Piano) – Short Biography". www.bach-cantatas.com.
- ^ "Yeol Eum Son and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields". Cadogan Hall.
- ^ The Cross-Eyed Pianist (April 11, 2018). "Meet the Artist – Yeol Eum Son, pianist". The Cross-Eyed Pianist. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
- ^ "Yeol Eum Son". Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ "Yeol Eum Son IMG Artists". imgartists.com. January 17, 2017.
- ^ "LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. YEOL EUM SON, PIANO / ANTONIO PAPPANO, DIRECTOR". ADDA (in European Spanish). Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ "Yeol Eum Son and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields | Cadogan Hall". cadoganhall.com. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ "An unrelentingly beautiful Bruckner 4 in Liverpool". bachtrack.com. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ "A challenging Bruckner Seventh in Birmingham". bachtrack.com. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ "KONZERTGESELLSCHAFT- UND VOLKSSINFONIEKONZERTE - More Concerts". www.sinfonieorchesterbasel.ch. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ "Saint-Saëns' Organ Symphony". Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ "Vasily Petrenko and Yeol Eum Son make spectacular Singapore debuts". bachtrack.com. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ "Shelby White & Leon Levy Digital Archives". New York Philharmonic. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
- ^ "MOZART Piano Concerto No 21 (Yeol Eum Son)". Gramophone. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ "New releases: Yeol Eum Son - Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21, Farrenc - Symphony Nos. 2 & 3". Classic FM. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ Woo-hyun, Shim (April 17, 2018). "Pianist Son Yeol-eum pays homage to Marriner with her new album". The Korea Herald. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ 손열음│모차르트, 피아노 협주곡 21번 C장조 K.467 (W.A.Mozart, Piano Concerto No.21 In C Major K.467) Pf.YeolEum Son, retrieved December 20, 2023
- ^ BBC Proms 2019 - Yeol Eum Son : Mozart Piano Concerto No.15. at, retrieved December 25, 2023
- ^ 손열음 & 스베틀린 루세브│베토벤, 바이올린 소나타 9번 '크로이처' (L.v.Beethoven, Violin Sonata No.9 Op.47 Kreutzer), retrieved December 20, 2023
- ^ Yeol eum son's Beethoven Piano Concerto NO.5. with Pietari Inkinen & Deutsche Radio Philharmonie at, retrieved December 20, 2023
- ^ Beethovens "Eroica" und Klavierkonzert Nr. 4 | NDR Radiophilharmonie (in German), November 5, 2022, retrieved December 20, 2023
- ^ Concierto para piano de la mano izquierda - Maurice Ravel - Yeol Eum Son (piano) - Dir. Pablo Urbina, retrieved December 20, 2023
- ^ Yeol-Eum Son (손열음) Ravel Piano Concerto in G major 2021, retrieved December 20, 2023
- ^ Enchantment for Christmas Sheherazade. https://en.residentieorkest.nl/concert/2324-sheherazade?concertDate=2023-12-15_20:15
- ^ Mendelssohn - Piano Concerto No. 1 | Yeol Eum Son, retrieved December 20, 2023
- ^ "Yeol Eum Son". Ibermúsica Artists. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ "Music in the Middle of Nowhere – Rosendal Chamber Music Festival". The Cross-Eyed Pianist. August 12, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ "1. Opening Concert < Baroniet Rosendal". Baroniet Rosendal. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ First day of the festival | Go behind the scenes on the first day of the Rosendal Chamber Music Festival - a day filled with rehearsals, anticipation and a wonderful opening concert 🌷🍃🌷 | By Rosendal Chamber Music Festival | Facebook, retrieved December 20, 2023
- ^ ""Fleet and joyful" – Rosendal Chamber Music Festival Day 2". The Cross-Eyed Pianist. August 12, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ "Une équipe de stars donne le coup d'envoi du Festival de Rosendal". bachtrack.com (in French). Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ ""a treat to see such extravagant chamber music virtuosity!" – Rosendal Chamber Music Festival Day 3". The Cross-Eyed Pianist. August 13, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ Yeol Eum Son Piano Solo Recital @ Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, 15 Aug 2023 | Yeol Eum Son, retrieved January 5, 2024
- ^ "EIF: Yeol Eum Son". Edinburgh Music Review. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ "Reviews – Page 2". VoxCarnyx. November 6, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ Yeol Eum Son plays Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.3 in d minor, Op.30, retrieved April 29, 2024
- ^ "Sir Antonio Pappano: Kendall, Liszt and Strauss (Alicante) | London Symphony Orchestra". londonsymphonyorchestra. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ "LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. YEOL EUM SON, PIANO / ANTONIO PAPPANO, DIRECTOR". ADDA (in European Spanish). Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ "Antonio Pappano, Yeol Eum Son and the London Symphony in Kendall, Liszt and Strauss in ADDA, Alicante". www.blogarama.com. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ Review: Pianist Yeol Eum Son makes impressive VSO debut. https://vancouversun.com/entertainment/music/review-vancouver-symphony-musically-speaking#:~:text=Son%20lists%20all%20the%20Mozart,sharply%20chiselled%20performance%20were%20exemplary.
- ^ Yeol eum son Prokofiev Piano Concerto No 2 with Joana Carneiro & NAC Orchestra - Yeol Eum Son : Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 2. at, retrieved June 22, 2024
- ^ "Carneiro, Assiginaak & NACO | Featuring Yeol Eum Son | Jun 12 - 13, 2024 | Southam Hall". nac-cna.ca. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ Explore the 2024/25 Season. Masterworks Concerts March–June. https://www.tso.ca/concerts-and-events/202425-subscriptions/explore-the-202425-season/
- ^ Yeol eum son's Franz Liszt - Piano Concerto No.1 in E flat Major, retrieved March 14, 2024
- ^ 2022.2.13. Yeol eum son's Franz Liszt - Piano Concerto No.2 in A Major, S 125, retrieved December 20, 2023
- ^ Yeol-Eum Son (손열음) Gershwin Piano Concerto in F Major, retrieved December 20, 2023
- ^ Yeol Eum Son plays Stravinsky, retrieved December 20, 2023
- ^ [2014 GMMFS 대관령국제음악제] Brahms Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, op. 60, retrieved December 20, 2023
- ^ S. RACHMANINOFF _ Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor op. 19, retrieved December 20, 2023
- ^ M. Ravel: Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello | Alena Baeva · Julian Steckel · Yeol Eum Son, retrieved December 20, 2023
- ^ "Yeol Eum Son performs W. A. Mozart - Piano Concerto no.22 in E flat major, K. 482". Gateway Korea Foundation. February 28, 2022. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ "About the Artist". steinwaysociety.com.
- ^ 하노버에서 온 음악 편지.
- ^ "Kissinger Sommer , Kissinger Klavierolymp". Kissingersommer.de. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
- ^ "Yeol Eum Son". Corvallis-OSU Piano International.
- ^ "Schumann & Brahms Clara-Jumi Kang and Yeol Eum Son". www.amazon.de.
- ^ "Modern Times". Presto Classical. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
- ^ "Yeol Eum Son – Mozart: Piano Concerto No.21 K467 / Sonata No.10 K330 – CD & Download". www.onyxclassics.com. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
- ^ "Yeol Eum Son – Schumann- Fantasy in C – Kreisleriana – Arabesque – CD & Download". www.onyxclassics.com. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
- ^ "Yeol Eum Son – Kapustin". www.onyxclassics.com. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
- ^ "Yeol Eum Son – Mozart: Complete Piano Sonata". www.yeoleumson.com. March 17, 2023. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
External links
[edit]- 1986 births
- Living people
- People from Wonju
- Musicians from Gangwon Province, South Korea
- South Korean classical pianists
- South Korean women pianists
- South Korean expatriates in the United States
- South Korean expatriates in Germany
- Prize-winners of the International Tchaikovsky Competition
- Prize-winners of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
- Women classical pianists
- Korea National University of Arts alumni
- Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover alumni
- 21st-century women pianists