Studio Trip to NYC

March 22, 2016 Wonkak Kim

I worked very hard with some of my exceptional students and officers of the TTU Clarinet Studio to plan for our 3-day trip to New York City during the spring break of 2015. Our proposal for TTU's URECA Grant was approved, and we received $5,000 to cover our students' airfare, hotel lodging and other expenses. In addition, our students successfully carried out various successful fund-raising campaigns, virtually making the trip fully funded. In the end, twelve students from TTU Clarinet Studio joined in the trip, made of whom have never been to NYC. Thanks to additional sponsorship and support by my colleagues at Buffet Crampon and Vandoren, our students had some tremendous musical opportunities during their stay.

Freshman Clarinet Quartet performing at the Buffet Showroom NYC

Listening to a presentation by David Gould

Boris Allakhverdyan, the principal clarinetist of Met Opera and newly appointed principal clarinetist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, spent two hours with several of our students giving master classes and coaching at the Buffet Crampon Showroom NYC. Not only we enjoyed many insights Boris shared with us, our students were thrilled to hear him later that evening at Met Opera's production of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro. I also took the studio to Vandoren's Studio on the 54th St., where students got to learn a great deal about the production process of reeds and mouthpieces and try them out. The final evening was spent on attending NY Philharmonic concert where they performed Brahms's German Requiem. What a musically enriching spring break for everyone it was!

Students getting ready to see Mozart's Marriage of Figaro at Met

Our students after NY Phil Concert at David Geffen Hall

In numerous occasions, I served as a tour guide to our students, taking them to various landmarks of NYC and fun. More importantly, we ventured into some of my favorite stops to eat in Manhattan, including Shake Shack and Totto Ramen.

Some struggle in using chopsticks at Totto Ramen where they don't have forks, etc.

TTU Clarinet Studio's last minute lunch together in NYC before heading back to La Guardia

Copland Concerto by My Student!

February 1, 2016 Wonkak Kim

Check out this brief clip on our local PBS about my student, Michaela, who was recently named the winner of 2015 Derryberry Concerto Competition. She will appear as a soloist with Bryan Symphony Orchestra on February 14 at 3pm, performing Aaron Copland's Clarinet Concerto.

Blair School Concerto Competition

January 24, 2016 Wonkak Kim

I spent today's afternoon judging the Blair School of Music Concerto Competition at Vanderbilt University. Many talented students gave some very impressive performances, and it certainly was not easy to rank the players. Congratulations to all finalists who played so well!

Colorado and Utah Tour with Enhake

January 20, 2016 Wonkak Kim

I just came back from a very much anticipated tour of Colorado and Utah with the enhake family! Since starting as a graduate chamber ensemble eight years ago, we have grown into an entourage of wonderful family and friends (three enhake babies as of now and two more coming very soon!). For this trip, All our spouses and babies were traveling with us except for Katie's. We first met up in Durango, Co, where our violinist Brent is the Professor of Violin at Fort Lewis College. We got to spend wonderful winter break here last time around, everything was a bit more familiar. Our concert and master class all went very well, and we really enjoyed some remarkable restaurants and shops in downtown Durango.

After our Durango residency, we drove up through the beautiful Colorado River to north. We made a stop at Arches National Park (although we did not have enough time to see the famous Arch, especially with couple of infants and my pregnant wife!) on our way to Grand Junction, CO. Everything was out of this world to me, and I was much refreshed despite long drives and tight schedule.

We were greeted with beautiful weather when we arrived in Grand Junction. Enhake actually was invited here many years ago when the university was called Mesa State College, and returning here with our new cellist Katie and families was quite special. The incredibly scenic view of the Monument throughout this small town was still very impressive. We met our old friends and some fantastic new faculty members at school and had lots of fun playing the recital, etc.

Colorado Mesa University's Performing Arts Center

We were advertised on the baseball field screen!

Colorado Mesa University's Colorful Hall

We drove through Salt Lake City to finally arrive in our final destination, Logan, UT. The weather was not good, and the driving was rather perilous. We arrived in Logan very late and was much relieved to settle in. Our host and friend Nick Morrison and Lesley showed around the impressive campus surrounded my the mountains, and we presented our workshop called "Entrepreneurship in Arts and Music" to Utah State University's students. Our recital was presented by Chamber Music Society of Logan, a prestigious series boasting some of the great chamber music ensembles of our time. A great privilege for us, indeed! It was one of my favorite performing venues that I've played recently, and I was glad to see a fantastic Fazioli at the hall.

Another successful tour with enhake, and now it is time to go back to teaching.

enhake at Chamber Music Society of Logan

Stephan Krehl CD is now released on Naxos!

January 13, 2016 Wonkak Kim

This post will be updated with more details soon. Meanwhile, check out a free download opportunity for a track from this CD on Minnesota Public Radio's Daily Download page here!

From the CD blurb:

Stephan Krehl is remembered for numerous influential textbooks on music theory, harmony and counterpoint written during his distinguished tenure at the Leipzig Conservatory. As a composer he unfashionably adhered to the late German Romantic tradition of Brahms and Schumann, his superbly crafted String Quartet Op. 17 covering every emotion from mystery and lyrical wistfulness to wit and dramatic passion. Krehl’s Clarinet Quintet is modelled on that of Brahms, but its content reveals a unique compositional voice filled with quixotic moods, expressive tenderness and extrovert theatricality.

2015 TTU Clarinet Symposium

November 21, 2015 Wonkak Kim

Vandoren Artist Wonkak Kim and 80 clarinet students at the Tennessee Tech University All-Star Instrumental Symposium! #WeAreVandoren #TennesseeTech #clarinets #selfie

A photo posted by Vandoren USA (@vandorenusa) on Nov 25, 2015 at 9:47am PST

TTU Clarinet Student Duo Sarah McMichen and Anjali Sivaainkaran performing Poulenc's Duo for high school participants at...
Posted by TTU Clarinet Studio & Society of Clarinet on Sunday, November 22, 2015

Here are some additional pictures from last Friday's TTU All-Star Instrumental Symposium. We had such a great turnout...
Posted by TTU Clarinet Studio & Society of Clarinet on Sunday, November 22, 2015

A Very Proud Teacher!

November 19, 2015 Wonkak Kim

TTU Clarinet Ensemble performing a Mozart Overture at the 2015 Fall Recital

This semester began with a series of recitals and performances for me, I was anxious to get through my high-paced schedule week by week. After our final Cumberland Quintet concert and BSO's production of Barber of Seville, I had a short break from the relentless performing schedule. My schedule then was taken over by my students' performances, all of which they presented with such spectacular results.

My studio gave a terrific studio recital back in October, featuring some very challenging repertoires. I am very happy to see both the continued progress of the students and new standards they set for themselves each day.

A student duo, Sarah and Anjali, was invited to present a lecture recital at the 2015 National Collegiate Honors Conference in Chicago. It's been a pleasure to working with them and delve deeply into Poulenc's Sonata for Two Clarinets. At the interview with our university's publicity office, I said "Their performance represented the high quality work we pursue at Tech each day and will continue to set new standards for their colleagues." You can read more about their presentation here.

Sarah and Anjali performing in at NCHC National Conference in Chicago

I am also thrilled to announce that two of my students were recently named Tennessee state winner and alternate of 2015 MTNA Young Artist Competition and Chamber Music Competition, respectively. Sarah, who gave a truly mature and heartfelt performance of Brahms's F Minor Sonata, Op. 120/1 and Donald Martino's virtuosic "A Set for Clarinet" gained the unanimous vote from all judges to be the first place winner. This is Sarah's second time winning MTNA/TN, and she will precede to the Southern Division round in January 2016 in Tampa, FL. Michaela who performed works by Bach/Vivaldi, Ibert, Ligeti, and Arnold as the clarinetist of Peachtree Woodwind Quintet (coached by my colleague Bill Woodworth) placed second in the Chamber Music category. You can view the complete result of the MTNA/TN Competition here.

Sarah with her award certificate - MTSU campus

Michaela with her Peachtree Quintet colleagues

Another Big News (updated on November 23, 2015):

Michaela Cundari just won the Derryberry Concerto Competition held at Tennessee Tech University on Monday, November 23. This is one of the highest honor bestowed upon the entire music student body at TTU. Michaela will perform Copland Clarinet Concerto with BSO on February 14, 2016. Congratulations, Michaela!!

Both Sarah and Michaela played amazing senior recitals this semester:

Michaela's creative Senior Recital poster: Vanhal's Clarinet Sonata, Copland's Clarinet Concerto, and Scott McAllister's "Freebirds."

After Sarah's Senior Recital. Her program: Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, Donald Martino's "A Set for Clarinet," and Brahms's Clarinet Sonata, Op. 120/1

Please stay tuned for some other exciting news to come from my studio!

2015 Studio Party - Halloween Pictures

November 3, 2015 Wonkak Kim

My students with some creative and not-so-creative costumes

This year's studio party coincided (or did it?) with Halloween, and I must say we had a great deal of fun. We had some scary meals, watched creepy movie, and went out to join some trick-or-treat adventure!

Frank Ticheli Clarinet Concerto

October 9, 2015 Wonkak Kim

Ticheli's Clarinet Concerto was among many other challenging scores that have occupied my stand for the past few weeks.

Learning Frank Ticheli's Clarinet Concerto during past few weeks has been like solving a challenging but addictive puzzle. I was very fortunate to perform it with some wonderful students in TTU Wind Ensemble on Wednesday evening, and we had our best run at the concert.

Post concert hangout. What an amazing group of students I have!

TAMU Residency - September 2015

September 29, 2015 Wonkak Kim

Kim-Choi Duo spent a wonderful weekend of September in College Station, TX, giving a recital, lecture and masterclasses to highly energetic group of Aggies! We brought with us some of our newly learned repertoire including Peter Lieuwen's Bright River and Bernstein Sonata as well as our old favorites such as Devienne's Sonata and Martinu's Sonatina. It was great to play Bright River for Peter at his own university.

Kim-Choi Duo performing at the Rudder Theatre

The following day, both of us gave master classes for clarinet and piano students. I particularly enjoyed collaborating with the TAMU Department of Anthropology for my lecture entitled "The Influence of Traditional Korean Music on Contemporary Music." I have had a number of opportunities since graduate school to explore this particular topic and felt both comfortable and sufficiently informed to give a short lecture. Since the majority of the audience did not have formal musical background, I focused on two particular examples where the Traditional Korean Music and Western Contemporary music intersect: the musical borrowing of famous (and very pleasant) Korean traditional melodies such as Arirang, and more intricate but subtle adaptation by composers such as Isang Yun (mainly through the concept of "Hauptton"). I was able to give some demonstration showcasing various unfamiliar but fascinating musical practices in Korean tradition. I am intrigued by the potential in this fusion and look forward to investigating this topic further.

Parallel between the Eastern calligraphy and the concept of Korean music

Taoist principles in Korean traditional music

Demonstrating modern techniques that emulate practices in Korean traditional music

Our friend Peter was such a gracious host and invited us for the evening at his incredible estate. We had marvelous time enjoying his beautiful lake and talked about some more collaborative projects to come!

Our friend Peter had this beautiful private lake behind his house. The dock floats around!

Blog