Our friends at Hwaum Boston Chamber Orchestra is giving the benefit concert for the Syrian refugees. This Saturday at 7:30 PM at the Korean Church of Boston, 32 Harvard Street, Brookline. The program will include Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Haydn’s Symphony No 44 (“Mourn”). The suggested donation of $20 will go toward the relief effort of the displaced Syrians.
Broadway-to-Bosotn Theater company (B2B) and the Korean Cultural Foundation are presenting the musical “Broadway In Seoul” featuring Ryan Hill, Hilary Mayer, Heather Lee, Shannon Ignatius. It will also feature tenor Jyoungwoun Choi and Gayageum-singer Sukkyeong Won. It will be at the ECC main chapel, Nov 14, Saturday 7 pm. The ticket is $20 and can be purchased at the door on the day of the event. Discounts may be available for students and seniors. Please inquire at info@koreancultureboston.org .
Michael-Thomas Foumai, whose chamber piece Village Music was one of the highlights of our recent Gala Concert, had his orchestral piece performed by the prestigious American Composers Orchestra in their annual SONiC festival (Sound of a new century - Zankell Hall ) during its Grand Finale. The concert featured five pieces by American composers, all World premiers, and Dr. Foumai’s work, titled “The Spider Thread”- "recounted a rapturous and frantic dash for spiritual salvation—an orchestral high-wire climb, before the thread snaps.” according to the director of the concert.
Many of KACF friends would remember TeRra Han, the main performer (Gayageum and Dance) of our first Gala Concert in 2013. Ms Han has since played at prestigious stages around the world, in Paris, Tokyo, Beizing and Seoul, and most recently, last October, gave a full Sanjo concert at the Andrew Weill recital hall at the famed Carnegie Hall.
You may check out the review of the event by the local press in NYC here.
Also have a taste of the full(!) Sanjo — probably the same piece as given at the Carnegie Hall, as captured from a recent concert in Tokyo here:
Click on the poster of the event below to visit the archive of the whole evening:
To view the photos from the event, click on the image below:
Scenes from the first rehearsal of the pieces
Oyuwa - a concerto for 25-string Gayageum
Village Music by Michael-Thomas Foumai
*** Due to unexpected vocal cord ailment of the singer, the concert will feature the NEC guitarist Xiongguan Zhang in her place. We appreciate Xiongguan for accommodating the change at such a short notice!
It is Summer!
We are co-sponsoring an Evening of Jazz music (“Summer - Peace - Jazz - Love”) on August 15th, Sat. (7 PM) at the Children’s Chapel of ECC, KCB.
The concert is free with a suggested donation of 10 $ and its program will include beautiful standards such as Embraceable You, But Not for Me, After You’ve gone and So in Love.
Vocalist Carrie Furniss hails from Chicago, Illinois. She completed her bachelor's degree in studio music and jazz at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. She is currently finishing the master's degree in jazz vocal performance at the New England Conservatory.
Kyumin Shim, a young jazz pianist of both sensitivity and swing, started out at the prestigious Seoul Institute of The Arts (SITA) in Korea on a scholarship as a prize winner in its Jazz Music Competition. Since 2009, he has studied at Berklee college of music on a scholarship. He moved on to New England Conservatory and obtained the Master of Music degree. Over the years, his mentors/collaborators included Jazz luminaries such as Joanne Brackeen, Danilo Pérez, Ed Tomassi, Hal Crook, Dave Santoro, Alain Mallet, Fred Hersch, Jason Moran, Jerry Bergonzi and Ken Schaphorst. He is in demand both as a soloist and as pianist of various ensembles at festivals such as the Newport Jazz festival(10), Club Rex in Toronto, Montreal Jazz Festival(11’, 13’), and the Jazz Festival at Martha’s vineyard. In the Boston area, he performed at Wally’s jazz cafe, Regatta bar, Lily pad as well as at Smalls jazz club, Shapeshifter lab and Jazz Gallery in New York.
Many of our musician friends who performed in Oasis Cafe or other sponsored events have graduated, moved on and are busy building their career. As of this summer, we have many great news from them!
I-Yun Chung, the leader of the group Aires de Argentina, who brought exciting world music to early days of the Oasis cafe series, had moved to San Francisco a while back, and is now performing as the pianist to the group Tangonero. They expect a CD coming out soon. She also got married recently. Congratulations!
Seungho Jang, who graduated from Berklee recently is now starting the Master’s course at NEC on a scholarship. During his recent visit to Korea, he teamed up with Kiwoong Choi (drums) and Jaehun Kang (piano - now at the Juilliard School of Music) for the old-times’ sake.
Both Kiwoong and Jaehoon seem very happy performing together.
Sumie Kaneko, the Japanese Koto and Shamisen player as well as a superb fusion jazz singer, has recently performed and conversed with an enthusiastic audience at the Museum of Fine Arts. A class act, adding some prestige to her busy resume!
Yumi Bae, who had played for us on several occasions performed as the featured soloist with the Boston University Symphony Orchestra last Spring. The piece was Bloch’s Schelomo, a notoriously difficult rhapsody, but beautifully pulled off.
Kudos to Eunhye Jeong, the leader of Sigimsae, the Berklee - Korean fusion group that had given us the memorable opening number at KCF60. After her graduation, she put out her first CD. It is the fruit of her successful crowd-funding campaign.
TeRra Han, the Kayageum player, has been busy back in Korea for the past year with CDs and performances at the prestigious stages in Korea, Japan and China. This Fall, she will continue her series of full Sanjo performance, including a recital at the Carnegie Hall!
Echae Kang, the jazz violinist, has been busy back in Korea, and there is a growing recognition of her talent. In addition to the duo activities (Echae EnRoute) around the performance scene at the famed Hong-Dae area, she had a series of tour concerts around Italy earlier this Summer.
Eunae Anna Koh, the NEC violinist, who also performed at several events held at ECC chapel, recently placed the 2nd winner at the prestigious Michael Hill International Violin Competition held in New Zealand. You can “hear" the Brahms concerto flowing out of the photo below.
Hiro Honshuku, the veteran jazz musician, and his group Racha Fora have been actively performing in this area as well as in Japan, and they had a new CD out this Summer. It is a tribute to Miles Davis.
We feel very lucky to have had these talented people for our stage.
Oasis Cafe Music Night present Jazz and American Standards with Rina Jo Trio on July 11th. 7 PM at ECC.
Rina Jo Trio
RJT is a jazz trio consisting of three international Berklee musicians. Pianist, Rina, comes from South Korea and is accompanied by bassist, Marcelo, from Brazil as well as drummer, Kelvin, from Indonesia. Because of our diverse backgrounds and influences, our music becomes very unique and eclectic. In this set, we will be featuring vocalist, Catey Esler, from Chicago, who brings a captivating sultry yet sweet sound to the group. Together, we will be playing some standards and two of Rina’s own compositions, entitled "Heaven" and "Not Yet.”
The set will also include beloved American standards such as “Bewitched”, “You are too beautiful” and “My Way” as well as jazz classics “So What” (Miles Davis) and Billie’s Bounce (Charlie Parker).
The set will include the following:
1) Bewitched By Richard Rodgers/ arranged by Minjin Rina Jo
2) You are too beautiful by Rodgers/Hart
3) Just friend by Klemmer/Lewis
4) I remember Clifford by Benny Golson
5) My Way by Gilles Thibaud
6) So What by Miles Davis
7) Billies’e Bounce by Charlie Parker
8) Heaven, composed by Minjin Rina Jo
Broadway to Boston Theater Company (B2B, Heather Lee, director), a group of musical chanteuses and local musicians, presents “Musical Ladies” on June 20th, Sat. (7 PM) at the Children’s Chapel in ECC of The Korean Church of Boston (KCB). B2B is donating their talent for this concert, a part of the on-going Oasis Café Music Night series by the domestic mission committee of the KCB. Oasis cafe aims to enrich cultural life of people in the community and provide performance opportunities for young up-and-coming artists. In this concert, Jina Jung, Ian DePriest and Heather Lee will present songs from popular musicals both old and new with Kyumin Shim, a Berklee-NEC jazz pianist, on the piano. The program is directed by Heather Lee (stage) and Robin Cho (music). The concert is free (suggested donation of $10). It is sponsored by KCB and the Korean American Cultural Foundation of Greater Boston (KACF).
Our friends at the Hwaum Boston Chamber Orchestra and Boston Korean Chorus are joining forces for the Concert for Peace in May 16th (Sat) 7:30 PM. The program will include the Mass in G by Schubert, Arirang (based on the popular Korean folk melody), as well as pieces to commemorate the victims of the Sewol Ferry incident from last year. The concert will be held at the Saint John’s Methodist Church, 2600 Mass Av. Lexington. Admission is free.
Eunae Koh, the NEC violinist, familiar from several recent performances for KACF, performed the Brahms concerto with the NEC orchestra recently:
Seungho Jang who also performed for the the Korean Cultural Festival(KCF) of 2013, as well as leading several Oasis Cafe Jazz concert recently had his recital (along with Kyumin Shim on piano) at Berklee. Here is a scene from the event:
Nayoung Baik, the Berklee violinist, who also performed during the KCF, also gave her senior recital:
Terra Han, who had headlined the KCF just had a solo recital, performing one of the Sanjo pieces complete at a prestigious venue in Korea.
Yumi Bae, the cellist, who played several pieces, some with Ms Han, for KCF and other Oasis cafe concerts, also had one of her recitals toward her doctoral degree, at the Boston University.
Miho Sato, the soprano, who led an interesting concert along with her Japanese friends, is having a Spring concert at St. Paul’s Church, our neighbor:
Sumie Kaneko, our dear friend musician, from KCF as well as Miho’s concert, is becoming a regular headliner in the Dhaka music festival. Here is a picture from last December:
Isaku Kageyama, the Taiko player, performing recently in the East Coast Taiko Conference:
