Rising virtuosi to perform Shostakovich, Ravel at Kumho

Violinist Yang In-mo will hold his first chamber music concert on Thursday at Kumho Art Hall, together with cellist Mun Tae-guk and pianist Ben Kim.

For the upcoming concert titled “Tri Angle,” the three young virtuosi will present duo and trio performances of chamber music compositions by innovative classical music composers such as Dmitri Shostakovich and Maurice Ravel. 

The concert will open with Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 1 in C minor Op. 8, a widely performed trio work of the 20th century, along with the composer’s second trio masterpiece.

Written at the age of 16, Shostakovich’s first trio work is also a musical testimony to the young composer’s precocity.

Following the single-movement trio work by Shostakovich is Hungarian composer Zoltan Kodaly’s Duo for Violin and Cello, Op. 7, a piece imbued with the tonality of Hungarian folk music.

Ravel’s two small chamber music compositions that share melodic and thematic similarities will be featured in the second half of the evening. The two are Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in A minor -- the composer’s posthumous work -- and the Piano Trio in A minor, which is often regarded as one of the most important works in the 20th century piano trio repertoire.

Often performed in tandem with Shostakovich’s trio works, Ravel’s piano trio piece is also known for its use of the extensive range of the three instruments, creating sounds that are unusually rich for chamber music and demanding a high level of technique from all three musicians.

Violinist Yang is the winner of the 2015 Paganini International Violin Competition and also the sixth artist-in-residence at Kumho Art Hall, following cellist Mun, the fifth artist-in-residence of Kumho. Mun, the winner of the Pablo Casals International Cello Competition in 2014, is also a member of Ensemble Ditto, led by violist Richard Yongjae O’Neill.

Kim is a Korean-American pianist who is based in Berlin. Kim won the 55th ARD International Music Competition in Munich in September 2006.

By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)