Friday, April 22, 2011
Arts and Entertainment Pick of the Day: Chee-Yun at the Schermerhorn
Posted by William Hooker on Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 5:05 AM
Where: Schermerhorn Symphony Center
When: Fri., April 22, 8 p.m. and Sat., April 23, 8 p.m.
$39-$109
Taught by the inimitable Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School, violinist Kim Chee-Yun won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions at 18 years old, which secured her a label (Denon) and a Carnegie Hall debut. Besides performing and teaching at Southern Methodist University, Chee-Yun also appeared as herself in an ignominious episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, “Denise Handicapped.” For a TV program that champions glass-half-empty theory, the episode's characters giddily extol Chee-Yun. (Tickets to her performance provide Larry David with ideal date-bait.)
Whether with a date, family or flying solo, one should not miss what is certain to be a smashing performance tonight with the Nashville Symphony. (After seeing her perform Dvořák's Violin Concerto, a critic expressed amazement that “she got through the whole thing without a broken string or handfuls of dangling bow hair.”) The bill tonight includes Witold Lutoslawski's Livre pour orchestre; Saint-Saëns' Concerto for Violin No. 3 in B minor, Op. 61, featuring Chee-Yun; and Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony under the baton of guest conductor Gunther Herbig. Though not Dvořák’s swan song (that would be his Ninth Symphony), critics laud his Eighth for capably channeling personal flair into a lively pastoral ode.
