The Graduate Center Music Program is pleased to share that GC DMA student and pianist Soyeon Kate Lee was specifically mentioned for an outstanding performance with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Monday evening (May 21st, 2013) in a New York Times review of their final concert of the 2012-2013 season!
In a review titled “Mozart as a Burnished Bookend, Heartening to Young and Old”, published on May 22nd, 2013, the specific description of Ms. Lee’s performance was as follows:
“Playing Mozart’s Trio in B flat (K. 502) with two long-serving society associates, the violinist Ani Kavafian and the cellist Timothy Eddy, the pianist Soyeon Kate Lee managed the neat trick of standing out and fitting in simultaneously. The elegant sparkle of Ms. Lee’s work was irresistible, yet she never overplayed or outshone her colleagues in a poised, congenial account.”
For more information about Soyeon Kate Lee, click HERE.
To read the complete NY Times review of the concert, click HERE, or see the article included below:
Mozart as a Burnished Bookend, Heartening to Young and Old
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Plays Mozart at Alice Tully
Tina Fineberg for The New York Times
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Clockwise from left: Benjamin Beilman, Timothy Eddy, Radovan Vlatkovic, Paul Neubauer and Lily Francis at Tully Hall.
By STEVE SMITH
Published: May 22, 2013
If the concert, which repeated a program presented on Sunday evening, offered no surprises, it handily indicated the state of the music society and its roster: a healthy mix of familiar faces and younger players already at a high state of accomplishment.
Playing Mozart’s Trio in B flat (K. 502) with two long-serving society associates, the violinist Ani Kavafian and the cellist Timothy Eddy, the pianist Soyeon Kate Lee managed the neat trick of standing out and fitting in simultaneously. The elegant sparkle of Ms. Lee’s work was irresistible, yet she never overplayed or outshone her colleagues in a poised, congenial account.
Similarly, the Quintet in E flat for Horn, Violin, Two Violas and Cello (K. 407) was ostensibly a showcase for Radovan Vlatkovic, the admired French-horn player, and Mr. Vlatkovic’s work was exemplary. Yet my attention was consistently drawn to the sweet sound, intense focus and sure technique of the violinist Benjamin Beilman, a relative newcomer with several substantial awards and accolades under his belt.
The concert ended with a deeply satisfying rendition of the Quintet in C for Two Violins, Two Violas and Cello (K. 515), a rhythmically slippery, harmonically advanced piece that Mozart composed during a break in writing “Don Giovanni” in 1787. The highlight was the Andante, virtually an operatic duo for Ms. Kavafian and the violist Paul Neubauer, with warm support from Mr. Beilman and Mr. Eddy, and Lily Francis on viola.
Reassurance aside, this season finale qualified as a cliffhanger of sorts, since it was the last concert under the watch of Norma Hurlburt, the society’s executive director since 2000. A new season with its fresh initiatives commences in October under her successor, Suzanne Davidson. As she departs, Ms. Hurlburt deserves credit for her achievements, not least for bringing the society’s charismatic artistic directors, David Finckel and Wu Han, into the fold.
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