Pianist Yeol Eum Son celebrates summer with performances at three European festivals.
From 8 – 12 August, Yeol Eum will give share five concerts at Leif Ove Andsnes’ acclaimed Rosendal Chamber Music Festival in Norway. Brahms’ is the theme for the 2023 edition, and Yeol Eum will perform the composer’s Violin Sonata No. 1 in G major, Op. 78 with violinist James Ehnes (10 August – Opening Night Concert); Piano Trio No. 2 in C Major, Op. 87 with cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Ehnes (11 August – 11:00); : “Herzlich tut mich verlangen” from 11 Choral Preludes for Organ, Op. 122, arranged by Eusebius Mandyezewski, with pianist Roland Pöntinen (11 August – 17:30); and his Clarinet Sonata in E-flat major, Op. 120 No. 2 with clarinettist Sharon Kam (12 August – 14:30). Yeol Eum will also perform Brahms’ confidant Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 17 with violinist Guro Kleven Hagen and cellist Julia Hagen (12 August – 19:15).
Yeol Eum will then make her Edinburgh International Festival debut on 15 August in recital at Queen’s Hall. The concert, featuring Bizet’s Variations chromatiques, Czerny’ Variations on Pierre Rode’s “Ricordanza”, Liszt’s “Ricordanza,” from Transcendental Etudes, Alkan’s Variations on a theme of Steibelt and Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No.29 Op.106 “Hammerklavier” will be recorded and broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
Yeol Eum concludes her summer series in recital at the Helsingborg Piano Festival in Sweden on 26 August at Dunkers Kulturhaus. She will perform Lekeu’s 3 Pieces for Piano, Janacek’s Sonata 1.X.1905 (From the Street), Hirtz’s “Wizard of Oz” Fantasy, Schneltzer’s Dance with the devil and Kapustin Sonata no. 2.
Poetic elegance, an innate feeling for expressive nuance and the power to project bold dramatic contrasts are among the arresting attributes of Yeol Eum Son’s pianism. Her refined artistry rises from breathtaking technical control and a profound empathy for the emotional temper of the works within her strikingly wide repertoire. She is driven above all by her natural curiosity to explore a multitude of musical genres and styles and the desire to reveal what she describes as the “pure essence” of everything she performs.
In high demand as recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician, Yeol Eum has won critical plaudits for the profound insights and intelligence of her interpretations. Her development as an all-round artist has gained from collaborations with conductors as diverse as Lorin Maazel, Dmitri Kitajenko, Valery Gergiev, Andrew Manze, Jaime Martin, Jun Märkl, Roberto González-Monjas, Jonathon Heyward, Ryan Bancroft, Pablo Gonzalez, Pietari Inkinen, Joana Carneiro, Gergely Madaras and Omer Meir Welber.
Forthcoming concerto performances include return to the Hague in December following her term as Artist-in-Residence with the Residentie Orkest in the 2022-23 season and return to Congresshalle Saarbrücken for a collaboration with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken under the baton of its Chief Conductor Pietari Inkinen. Together they will also tour South Korea. Following successful debuts in Australia and New Zealand in 2022, Yeol Eum will collaborate again with the Tasmanian Symphony and Auckland Philharmonia.
Across 23/24 season, upcoming are debuts with the Oslo Philharmonic, Atlanta and Pacific Symphony Orchestras in the United States, Canadian debut with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and a debut with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.