Performance

Amongst violinists, this piece is arguably one of the most difficult and satisfying pieces to play. However, for me, it's something more.

Before my professor, Margaret Hayne Kim told me that I should be playing the concerto, I had only the superficial knowledge of the history behind the concerto and its composer. I knew that Tchaikovsky was a very talented and hard-working musician, but seeing how I was also a composer, I was missing out on a lot of valuable insights.

My undergraduate research required that I dig deep into the life of the composer and the piece that I play so that I can link it reasonably to the topic of whatever I wanted to do for my recital, and deep I dug. I not only got to learn about the concerto but felt like I really got to know the composer himself from reading through his messages and anecdotes of his acquaintances. From a lawyer to a world-renowned composer, the journey Tchaikovsky went through was truly inspirational. And it was this journey, that inspired me to make a journey of my own, a self-discovery project that challenges me to combine the thing I'm comfortable doing with the thing that I'm not.

The title of this project "Journeys" is dedicated to his journey and mine. I don't want to spoil too much, but if this is the first page you are looking at, basically, this entire project is my own journey as I set out and try out different styles of music to challenge myself both as a composer and a player.

Below is my humble interpretation of the concerto that started it all. In the next tab, you will find the actual journey that is the result of this biographical and artistic research, a rewarding journey that challenged me on every aspect of my skills.