2020.12.26 08:43
2020.12.26 08:56
2020.12.26 13:37
Jennifer Koh (born 1976) is an American violinist, born to Korean parents in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.[1][2]
Koh earned a B.A. in English Literature from Oberlin College, as well as a Performance Diploma from the attached Oberlin Conservatory. She is also a graduate of the Curtis Institute and was the top medalist in the 1994 Tchaikovsky Competition. That year she also won a scholarship from the Concert Artists Guild. She received an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1995.[3]
Koh has performed extensively with such orchestras as the Los Angeles Philharmonic,[4] New York Philharmonic,[5] Czech Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony, and Cleveland Orchestra and is an advocate of music education for children.
She is lauded for her programs of Bach.[6] She performed and recorded a series "Bach and Beyond" which has received high critical praise.[7] She frequently premieres and records contemporary music of composers like Kaija Saariaho, John Zorn, and Esa-Pekka Salonen.[8]
In 2012, Koh was a featured performer in the revival of the Philip Glass/Robert Wilson opera Einstein on the Beach, portraying the role of Einstein.[9](from Internet)
2020.12.26 14:17
I feel so sad and distressed to know Jennifer Koh receiving food stamps! How in the world?!
Yes, she was once here at Kennedy Center as a rising star to play with National Symphony I remember but no patron?
We know the violinist is better than the pianist to survive as a solo player – they could join the orchestra like David Kim of Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra to have a stable life- but I understand they will have to pay the accompanist to play the piano unless playing the concerto with the orchestra.
Nevertheless, I feel awful to listen to such a sad (?) outcome to her now by COVID and wish to know whether anyway we could support her.
Anxiously,
BB
P.S. Indeed, I feel like my own daughter's problem who almost became a piano soloist! I recall that my second daughter, Yoon-Sun Lee, now a chair professor of English Literature at Wellesley, Mass, won Baldwin Piano Contest at the precollege level, held at Cincinnati – she was at the elementary school - and got a few more awards to have become a celebrity as a child prodigy and played with a few local orchestras like Charleston Symphony; later she got the offer from Julliard for the free scholarship. But she chose NOT to accept it but to go to Harvard – I believe she took a double major, literature and music (under Earl Kim)- instead, after she saw so many young kids from Korea at the Tanglewood summer camp, who know nothing but playing the piano around the clock to dedicate 24 hours a day. We never pushed or tried to influence her choice but, thank goodness, she made the right decision to choose other specialties to establish her career as an English Literature professor- she went to Yale to get her Ph.D. though she graduated Harvard undergraduate a summa cum laude! -. And she still enjoys the music/piano with her colleagues, playing the quartet regularly I understand.
2020.12.26 15:13
All I can say about your two accomplished daughters is that
as the old saying goes, apples don't fall far from the tree.
My congratulations to you, Professor!
2020.12.26 15:34
A kind of embarrassment to learn that I gave you an impression to brag about my own kids- among 경상도 양반, the most disgraceful behavior is 'bragging about 부모, 자기, 마누라, 자식, 처가, 친가, 외가', very well known as 팔불출!!!-. But I simply wanted to share my own small experience on reality through my own kids. I never put even one word on my tongue in regard to their future plan but gave all the blessings I could give as their parent only after they have made their own decision. Indeed, many criticized me to remain 'indifferent' to my own kids, but isn't that their lives, after all!? Anyhow, apparently my wife found out my second daughter has a perfect pitch when she was three years old and has a talent in music many recognized. But we saw so many brilliant child prodigies fizzled out so that we never encouraged or discouraged her but let her decide for her own future. And she did it right, thank goodness!
BB
"In the top echelons of classical music, the violinist Jennifer Koh is by any measure a star.
With a dazzling technique, she has ridden a career that any aspiring Juilliard grad would dream about — appearing with leading orchestras, recording new works, and performing on some of the world’s most prestigious stages.
Now, nine months into a contagion that has halted most public gatherings and decimated the performing arts, Ms. Koh, who watched a year’s worth of bookings evaporate, is playing music from her living room and receiving food stamps."
This is terrible!
My wife and I have been following Jennifer Koh since she was age 15
when she performed in Detroit with Detroit Symphony Orchestra and
we gave a bouquet of flowers. She is a daughter of my wife's Kyunggi High
School classmate who lives in Chicago.
Not too long ago my wife communicated with her.
To say the least I was stunned to read this report on Today's NYT.