Violinist Chee-Yun to perform at Stephens Performing Arts Center

By Rayna Valentine
The Idaho State Journal

Internationally-acclaimed violinist Chee-Yun will grace the stage in the Stephens Performing Arts Center as guest artist for the Symphony’s opening concert, Friday, Sept. 27, as soloist in Bruch’s “Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor.”

This amazing violinist’s first public performance (at age 8) took place in her native Seoul, after she won the grand prize of the Korean Times Competition. At 13, she came to the United States and was invited to perform Vieuxtemps’ “Concerto No. 5” in a Young People’s Concert with the New York Philharmonic. Two years later, she appeared as soloist with the New York String Orchestra under Alexander Schneider at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. In 1989, she won the Young Concert Artist’s international competition, and a year later became the recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.

She has been described by Strings Magazine as having “not only extraordinary talent, but the poise and natural self-confidence of a seasoned veteran and born performer. Her technique is brilliant and utterly secure, her tone like butter, smooth, rich and flawless.” . . .

In August 2007, she was appointed artist-in-residence and professor of violin at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Concertmaster, ISU Lecturer Keum Hwa Cha, studied with her while enrolled in the prestigious Meadows School of Arts Artist Certificate program — a limited-enrollment post-graduate program for talented performance musicians. We’re pleased that the two will be reunited on our stage as Concertmaster and soloist — particularly because the Bruch Concerto is famed for the remarkable soloist and orchestra interplay — come experience the magic!

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