Concert 1
Benefit concert for Royal Family Kids
​
Sunday December 4, 2016 at 6pm
St.Paul's Lutheran Church of Palos Verdes
31290 Palos Verdes Drive West
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275
Tickets $30. (Limited seats available)
Program
Heinrich Anton Hoffman -Grand Duo Concertant in A Major, Op. 5, No. 2
Johan Halvorsen -Passacaglia in G minor on a Theme by G.F Handel
(transcribed for violin and cello)
Hana Kim, Violin
Erin Breene, Cello
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L.V Beethoven -Egmont Overture Op.84,
(transcribed for four hands)
Franz von Suppe - Poet and Peasant Overture
(transcribed for one four hands)
Hye-Won Cho, Piano
Hyongsoon Kim, Piano
Heung-Lyeol Lee (1909-1981) - Flower Clouds
Franz Liszt - Oh! quand je dors
Gioacchino A. Rossini -"Una voce poco fa",from Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Hee Jung Yoo, soprano
Hye-Won Cho, Piano
​
Frederic Chopin - Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 31
Rufus Choi, Piano
​
Albert Lavignac - Galop Marche for 8 hands
Rufus Choi, Piano
Hyongsoon Kim, Piano
Hye-Won Cho, Piano
Young Yoo, Piano
​
PERFORMERS
Erin Breene, Cello
Erin Breene, cello, is in great demand as both a chamber and orchestral musician. Ms Breene is currently a member of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and also performs with the Pacific Symphony, Los Angeles Opera, and the Long Beach Opera Orchestra. She has served as Principal Cellist of the San Diego Chamber Orchestra, Associate Principal Cellist with the Opera Pacific Orchestra, and Principal Cellist of Music Center Dance of Los Angeles. With her husband, Robert Schumitzky, and pianist, Ines Irawati, Erin performs with the Aviara Trio (www.aviaratrio.com) on many of Southern California’s most prestigious chamber music series.
Ms Breene was named a Finalist in the 2003 Concert Artist’s Guild auditions with the Andros Quartet. The Juilliard School selected the quartet to represent the graduating class at their 2003 commencement ceremony. As a member of the Basmati Quartet, she was the Grand Prize winner at the Coleman National Chamber Music Competition, and Second Prize winner at the 1999 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. In the summer of 1999, the quartet was chosen as the “Quartet in-residence” at Yellow Barn.
Ms. Breene has served as Principal Cellist of the Juilliard Symphony and Orchestra, the Tanglewood Festival Orchestra, the Aspen Sinfonia, and Rice University’s Shepherd School symphony where she received her BM degree under Paul Katz. Ms Breene received her MM degree as a student of Timothy Eddy at the Juilliard School.
Rufus Choi, Piano
RUFUS CHOI has always felt that his American birth and Korean heritage have imparted an international aura and underlying wanderlust to his musical career, which is defined by passionate, sold-out performances in numerous countries across the globe. A Yamaha Artist based in California, Mr. Choi won First Prize and the People’s Choice Award in the notable Jose Iturbi International Music Competition which offers one of the largest monetary prizes for piano competitions in the world.
Rufus Choi has performed widely around the United States and many of his performances have been broadcast on local television and radio stations, such as ABC, CBS, KKGO, and WQXR. Mr. Choi has enjoyed solo recitals at Lincoln Center and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City, a recent sold-out solo recital at Zipper Hall in Los Angeles to benefit the AMRON Foundation, and a solo recital in Savannah, Georgia, in the “On Stage” music festival. He has performed both Chopin Concerti with the South Bay Chamber Orchestra to sold-out houses on both occasions, and was the featured soloist in the season finale with fireworks at the Redlands Summer Music Festival. He performed with the Rapides Symphony Orchestra in Alexandria, Lousiana, after winning the Louisiana International Piano Competition, and has also performed at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco and at Pasadena’s Ambassador Auditorium in Los Angeles.
He's currently on the piano faculty at Pepperdine University.
Hyongsoon Kim, Piano
Hyongsoon Kim studied piano from the age of four. Prior to pursuing his legal studies, Mr. Kim received top prizes from the Oberlin International Piano Competition, the ARTS Competition in Miami, Florida, and the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, and was selected to the Young Artists’ Guild by the Music Teachers’ Association of California. Mr. Kim previously performed as soloist with orchestras throughout Los Angeles including the Bellflower Symphony, Long Beach Chamber Orchestra, the Marina Del Rey Symphony, and the Rio Hondo Symphony, and twice with the Southwestern Youth Music Festival orchestra as winner of its “Young Pianist” competition.
Mr. Kim graduated from Columbia Law School (where he continued to study the piano). He currently practices trial law at the firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and served as president of the Korean American Bar Association. He enjoys performing with his wife, Dr. Hye-Won Cho, whenever the opportunity arises.
Young Yoo, Piano
Dr. Hye-Won Cho, Piano
Dr. Hye-Won Cho’s brilliant technique and sensitive musicality has garnered her countless accolades worldwide, including first prize at the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, the grand prize at the Peninsula Young Artist International Competition and the top prize at the ARTS Competition, sponsored by the National Foundation for Advancement in Arts in Miami Florida. Dr. Cho has performed as recitalist, chamber musician and soloist with orchestra at prestigious venues around the world, including Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center and the Juilliard Theatre in New York; Walt Disney Concert Hall, Wilshire-Ebell Theater, Zipper Hall and Schoenberg Hall in Los Angeles; and the Gewanthaus in Leipzig, Germany. She also performed on the prestigious Myra Hess concert series at Preston Bradley Hall in Chicago. Her performances have been broadcast on NPR, WFMT 98.7 in Chicago, and KUSC 91.5 in Los Angeles. Most recently, Dr. Cho performed Brahms First Concerto with the Los Angeles Doctors’ Symphony.
Dr. Cho received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from UCLA and both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School in New York. She is currently on the piano faculty at Occidental College.
Hana Kim, Violin
Previously having held a position in Charleston Symphony, now a resident of CA, Hana Kim enjoys the eclectic works of a freelance musician in Los Angeles and Orange County, playing regularly with the Pacific Symphony, Los Angeles Opera and various chamber ensembles.
Originally from Korea, she has spent most of her teens in London studying the violin under the violinist Simon Fischer, then continued her studies in New York at The Juilliard School pursuing her Bachelors and Masters programs under the former and current members of the Juilliard String Quartet: Robert Mann, Earl Carlyss and Ronald Copes.
During Hana’s stay in New York, her parents immigrated from Korea to Los Angeles and she decided to reunite with them after her graduation. Soon after her move, she met LA’s most prestigious violin instructor Robert Lipsett and was invited to audition to be a part of the first graduating class of the Colburn Conservatory.
Upon completing her studies at the Colburn Conservatory, she won Assistant Principal 2nd Violin position in Charleston Symphony in South Carolina.
She has performed with the likes of Placido Domingo, Joshua Bell, Yo-Yo Ma, Sarah Chang, Lang Lang, Elton John, Natalie Cole and Earth, Wind and Fire.
Dr. Hee Jung Yoo, Soprano
Dr. Hee Jung Yoo, a soprano, has appeared around the world in such operatic leading roles as Nannetta in Falstaff and Sister Constance in Dialogues des Carmelites, and Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute. She has also performed as soloist in numerous Oratorios and Sacred works, including Messiah by Handel, C Minor Mass by Mozart, The Creation by Haydn, and The Seven Last Words of Christ by Debois. Dr. Yoo specializes in discovering and performing lesser-known and newly composed Art Songs, as well as performing Korean Art Songs and Korean Creative Operas.
Dr. Yoo has earned top prizes at prestigious competitions throughout Korea, including a Silver medal at the Seoul Competition for Young Musicians by Korea National Broadcast System (KBS), 3rd place at the Dong-A Music Competition and 2nd place at the Korean Competition of Vocal Music (Lee Dae-woong Music Competition). She earned her Doctor of Musical Arts in Voice Performance and Pedagogy at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she wrote her dissertation on Korean Art Songs and both performed Korean Creative Operas. Dr. Yoo received her Bachelor of Music from Yonsei University and a Master of Music from the Seoul National University in her native country, Korea. She completed her Performer Diploma at the Indiana University.
Young Yoo has been primarily active as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher. She has given concerts throughout the United States and South Korea. She performed at Jordan Hall with Youth Philharmonic Orchestra of New England Conservatory and has given concerts at Gardner Museum in Boston, Paul Hall in NY, Zipper Hall in CA as well as Seoul Performing Arts Center and Kumho Arts Center in South Korea. She Participated Mozarteum Music Festival in Salzburg, Tanglewood Festival, Indiana Piano Festival and many other music festival throughout the world.
Her many awards and honors include second prize in the Grace Welsh International Piano Competition, First prize in the Harvard Musical Association Competition, Kingsport Symphony Piano Competition, Orleans 20th century International Piano Competition in France and many other competitions throughout the United States and South Korea.
A native of South Korea, Young Yoo received her Bachelor's and Master's degree at the Juilliard School as a student of Yoheved Kaplinsky. She received Joseph Fidelman Scholarship and Vladimir Horowitz Scholarship while she was in the Juilliard School. She attended New England Preparatory school in Boston, MA where she studied with Wha Kyung Byun.
With the violinist Hana Kim and cellist Erin Breene, she had been a member of the Strada Trio since 2006. In addition to performing, she has been an active teacher for more than 10 years in Los Angeles, CA.