Playing Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time with Mirus Trio at IBK Hall's Sold-Out Recital

I had a great time working with the wonderful musicians and friends of Mirus Trio, a fabulous group based in Seoul. The cellist of the group, Jayoung, is my longtime friend and fellow founding member of enhake, and she has been teaching and performing in Seoul since she moved back to Korea several years ago. They kindly invited me to perform Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, and every minute of the rehearsel was much fun.

We had our first run-through performance at TLI Hall in Seongnam City couple days ago before our important concert at Seoul Arts Center. I was amazed at the superior acoustics of the SAC's beautiful IBK Chamber Hall. The hall seats about 800 people, and our concert was completely sold-out and packed. It was not difficult to stay inspired throughout this grueling work, and I very much look forward to our upcoming collaborations.

Incidentally, this happened to be my 60th performance of this monumental work!

http://www.sac.or.kr/program/schedule/view.jsp?seq=26623&s_date=20160814

I was very fortunate to have great teachers who were also phenomenal players. Every one of their performances that I attended or concerts I was lucky enough to play with them were sheer source of inspiration. I came to believe that showing the examples of fine musicianship and what it takes to constantly improve oneself to the students is an immensely important component of teaching. I also came to learn that it is no easy task to maintain a status of performing musician while teaching a full studio (you can read about my 15/16 studio at TTU here). In any case, I am thrilled to announce my 2015-16 season schedule filled with exciting performances, collaborations, and projects.

Just having performed my TTU Faculty Recital last night, I am now preparing for the upcoming three-day residency in College Station, TX. I and Grace will be featured as guest artists at Texas A&M University's Department of Performance Studies. We will present a full 90-minute recital featuring some of our favorite duo repertoires as well as some of recent additions such as Peter Lieuwen's Bright River. It will be a treat to bring this work to Peter's own university. We are also scheduled to give master classes and a lecture.

In October, I will perform Frank Ticheli's Clarinet Concerto, one of my self-imposed challenges for the year, with TTU Wind ensemble. While I am anxious to work up this very difficult piece, I am excited to collaborate with some stellar student musicians in the ensemble and my colleague Joe Hermann. I also cannot wait to play with my friend and amazing pianist Esther Park during her visit to TTU. In Esther's French-themed recital, we will play Debussy's Premiere Rhapsody and Poulenc's Clarinet Sonata.

In January, I will be joined by enhake and its now ever-expanding family members in a three-state tour (Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah). We will serve as Artist-in-Residence at Fort Lewis College, where our violinist Brent is a faculty member. Our recital at the St. Mark's Recital Series will feature some of our favorite, including Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time. We are also scheduled to perform at Colorado Mesa University, and the tour will conclude with our appearance at the Chamber Music Society of Logan and the Utah State University.

Logan should be very beautiful and "snowy" during our visit

In February, I will host two friends of mine, violinist Emily Westell and pianist Sasha Karpeyev, for the TTU Center Stage Series. I will join the duo in performance of Brahms Clarinet Sonata No. 1, Milhaud's Suite for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano, and Bartok's Contrasts. I am scheduled to appear as the guest clarinetist for the 2016 University of Northern Iowa Woodwind Day later in March. Few trips to NYC and Florida are also being planned in the spring. Finally, I hope to survive through another TTU Clarinet Day in April.

While the summer plans are not completely set at this point, I have some great events scheduled during July and August. I will be doing a good deal of teaching and playing in various cities in Korea, including a performance of Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time with Mirus Trio (my friend Jayoung's ensemble) at Seoul Arts Center's IBK Chamber Hall.

Seoul Arts Center's IBK Chamber Music Hall, built only few years ago!

Throughout the year, I am also looking forward to playing as a clarinetist of the Cumberland Quintet with my admirable TTU colleagues as well as the principal clarinet for the Bryan Symphony Orchestra and the Albany Symphony in GA. Which clarinetist can possibly complain when the season schedule include such works as Kodaly's Dances of Galanta, Brahms' Third Symphony, Elgar's Enigma Variations and Sibelius Symphony No. 2!!?

For my complete list of performances during 2015-16 season, please visit my calendar page.

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