By Jai-Pee
After a year’s regrettable
absence, the much loved and eagerly awaited Chiang Mai Music Festival will
be back in town this coming February 2011. The three co-founders of the
Festival, Anne and Kazuyoshi Murase, whose wonderful music salon has become
the base for the Friends of the Festival, along with world renowned pianist
Korean-born Tong-Il Han, have been working hard behind the scenes to bring
simply beautiful classical music to the community of Chiang Mai. It might be
well worth making a note of these confirmed dates and venues now in order to
avoid the inevitable clash with those institutions in Chiang Mai that do
their own thing independently of whatever else is arranged.
Seol Kim Hwa is sure to wow festival goers with the beauty and skill of her
performance on Friday, February 18.
The opening concert will
be at 7.30pm in the courtyard of the Chiang Mai Arts and Cultural Centre on
Friday February 18th. The program will be a solo piano recital by
young Korean pianist Seol Hwa Kim, a seventeen-year-old superstar pianist
whom some of you might remember from her stunning performance of Liszt’s
Don Juan Fantasy during the last 2009 festival. Since then, Seol Hwa has
gone from strength to strength and made her Vienna debut at the Bosendorfer
Hall in January of 2010. She is developing a firm reputation as one of the
most promising pianists of her generation and it will be a delight to
welcome her back to Chiang Mai, a place she loves very much and where she
first performed at the Chiang Mai Music Festival when she was thirteen.
Seol Hwa's piano recital
will be followed by the Festival's chamber music concert at the same time in
the same venue on Saturday February 19th. This magnificent
chamber music concert will feature world famous pianist Tong-Il Han,
supported by Korean pianist Helen Lee, Sang-Jun Shinn on violin and Dejan Yu
on cello. They will perform three great piano trios – by Haydn in G major,
Beethoven in C minor and the B major trio by Brahms. When in his teens,
Tong-Il performed in the now legendary Kennedy White House Concerts and
since his youth has played all over the world with many of the leading
orchestras and conductors. His recordings of Beethoven piano sonatas are
monumental and his other numerous recordings include the complete Chopin
Preludes, Ballades, and Scherzos, and major works of Schubert, Schumann,
Liszt, and Brahms. As Professor of Piano Tong-Il Han currently teaches in
Korea, teaches talented young pianists intensively in Seoul, and also is a
regular academic visitor to Elisabeth University of Music in Hiroshima,
Japan. With his charming and warm personality plus his dynamic musicianship,
the audience is in for a great treat. He is being joined by two leading
string players Sang-Jun and Dejan from the Daegu Philharmonic Orchestra, one
of Korea's most talented ensembles, and by the fine pianist Helen Lee who
teaches and performs throughout Asia.
The Arts and Cultural
Centre is located to the rear of the famous ‘Three Kings’ monument, and the
open-air courtyard is a delightful setting for the two concerts which are
quite different from one another. And moreover, admission is open to the
general public free of charge as the Chiang Mai Music Festival's customary
gift of music to the community.
All the artists will come
together on Sunday February 20th at the Chedi Hotel at
7.00pm where, after a cocktail reception, they will perform a series of
shorter pieces by Liszt, Schubert, Beethoven, Chopin and Brahms. This
concert-recital is by special invitation only and is not open to the general
public. In addition, there will be outreach work during the Festival period,
with master-classes and recitals in locations such as local schools and
other government institutions.
The Festival has been
assured by the sheer dedication, hard work and determination of the
unstoppable Anne Murase and her other two co-founders. Anne worked with
vision and sheer tenacity to achieve what is surely nothing short of a small
miracle. Alongside this, there has been ever-important money and awareness
raised by the Friends of the Chiang Mai Music Festival, which is a dedicated
financial support group organized by the Festival Adviser and the Murases as
a year-round musical presence in our midst with its own series of superb
performing artists. Their generosity and continued dauntless support has
been invaluable over the past year. Long may it continue! Also and very
importantly, the Festival has been wonderfully supported with generous
sponsorship by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea to the Kingdom of
Thailand, by the Municipality of Chiang Mai and the Chiang Mai City Arts and
Cultural Centre, by the Chedi Hotel and, since its inception in 2006, by
Siam Music YAMAHA Co., Ltd. Let us hope that the Chiang Mai Music Festival
will remain an annual musical presence with the continued and absolutely
essential continued support of many.
Do visit the Festival
website:
www.chiangmaimusicfestival.com
Alternatively, for other
enquiries contact the Festival Adviser, JP at:
[email protected] Or, Anne Murase at:
[email protected]
A great musical experience
awaits us all!
