“Noble Visions,” the final installment in Abendmusik Alexandria’s second season, is this Thursday, April 7. On the program is Unkyoung Kim, an extraordinary violinist and violist currently on faculty at Tulane University in New Orleans. Winner of Vienna’s prestigious Perrenoud Foundation International Music Competition and other awards, Unkyoung Kim is sure to stun when she presents exciting compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach and Paul Hindemith at this Thursday’s Abendmusik.
Bach’s impressive Chaconne is one of the masterpieces for solo violin. This single-movement composition featuring an amazing 64 variations over the course of its fifteen minutes has been a favorite showpiece of violin virtuosi for centuries. It is extremely difficult music technically-speaking, so has proved a rite of passage for many aspiring violinists. Admirers have called the Chaconne spiritually and emotionally powerful and structurally perfect.
Also on Thursday’s program is the Sonata for solo viola, Op. 25 No. 1 by Paul Hindemith, one of the twentieth century’s most iconic composers. A violist himself, Paul Hindemith wrote many works for the often neglected viola and may be considered one of the instrument’s foremost advocates. The viola sonata featured on Thursday’s program finds Hindemith following in the footsteps of Bach in its pioneering solo writing.
As a special part of Thursday’s program, Dr. Kim will be joined by her talented niece violinist Eugene Kim and nephew cellist Danny Kim. High school students in Baton Rouge, Eugene and Danny are already quite accomplished themselves considering their young ages.
“Noble Visions” begins at 6 PM at the Hearn Stage in downtown Alexandria; doors open at 5:30. Tickets are only $10.00 and are available in advance through TicketCentral or by calling the Arts Council of Central Louisiana at 318 443 4718. Appetizers and a cash bar by Southern Creations Catering are also available.
Don’t miss Thursday’s exciting concert! And, if you enjoy chamber music, there is still more to come! Stay tuned: in my next post, I will discuss the inaugural Sugarmill Music Festival to be held in Alexandria this May!
JSH 16.04.05
About Jackson. Jackson Harmeyer is a music scholar, composer, and advocate of music. He is a graduate of the Louisiana Scholars’ College—Louisiana’s designated honors college located on the campus of Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. While there, Jackson completed an undergraduate thesis entitled “Learning from the Past: The Influence of Johann Sebastian Bach upon the Soviet Composers.” He has followed classical music around the world, attending the BachFest Leipzig in Germany, Colorado’s Aspen Music Festival, and many concerts across Louisiana and Texas. Resident in Alexandria, Louisiana, Jackson works with the Arts Council of Central Louisiana as Series Director of the Abendmusik Alexandria chamber music series. He also writes the program notes for the Rapides Symphony Orchestra, blogs at MusicCentral, and continues to study other aspects of music in his spare time. His four-movement Suite for Solo Guitar, Op. 21 received its world premiere on November 5, 2015 at Abendmusik Alexandria.