Concerts are held every 3rd Sunday, April through November and the 1st Sunday of December.
Due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns for the safety of our artists and concert patrons, and in compliance with restrictions on social activities, we anticipate additional concerts will be cancelled, but in the spirit of optimism we will wait to decide as the dates approach. Please return to this site for the most current information on our schedule.
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Jordan Bak, viola & Ji Yung Lee, piano
October 16, 2022 @ 3:00 am - 5:00 pm
RESERVATIONS REQUIRED as church seating is very limited
E-mail: FOMAdmin@friendsmusic.org
Phone#: 518.918.8003
Masks & social distancing required
Suggested Donation of $12 Adults / $6 Seniors.
For their Friends of Music program, Jordan Bak and Ji Yung Lee will play works by Britten, Hindemith, Vaughan Williams, R. Schumann, and Brahms.
This performance is part of our annual Weekend of Chamber Music in the Western Catskills. Our colleagues at the West Kortright Centre in East Meredith present the Argus Quartet on Saturday, October 15; details <here>
Award-winning Jamaican-American violist Jordan Bak is building an exciting international career as a trailblazing artist, praised for his radiant stage presence, dynamic interpretations, and fearless power. He is frequently in demand as a concerto soloist, recitalist, chamber musician and educator. The 2021 YCAT Robey Artist and a top laureate of the 2020 Sphinx Competition, Bak is also a Grand Prize winner and Audience Prize recipient of the 2019 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, the recipient of the 2019 Samuel Sanders Tel Aviv Museum Prize and the 2019 John White Special Prize from the Tertis International Viola Competition. In addition, Jordan Bak is a member of the celebrated New York Classical Players and is a featured artist for WQXR’s Artist Propulsion Lab.
Highlights of the 2021-2022 season include recital debuts at Wigmore Hall, Merkin Concert Hall & Baltimore’s Shriver Hall Concert Series, chamber music tours with Musicians from Marlboro and CAG on Tour, and new music commissions from such composers as Tyson Davis, Shawn Okpebholo & James Ra. He has been heard as a recitalist and chamber musician in the United States at such venues as Alice Tully Hall, Bruno Walter Auditorium, Jordan Hall, and Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, among others, and in Europe at the Verbier Festival, the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève, the Centre de Musique Hindemith, and the Helsinki Musiikkitalo.
A proud new music advocate, Bak gave the world premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s Du gick, flög for viola and mezzo-soprano and the viola premiere of Jessica Meyer’s Excessive Use of Force. Bak also gave an acclaimed performance of the Druckman Viola Concerto with The Juilliard Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall in New York. He has additionally championed works by such composers as H. Leslie Adams, Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti, Quinn Mason, Jeffrey Mumford, Caroline Shaw & Alvin Singleton.
2nd prize and special award winner at Salieri-Zinetti International Chamber Music Competition in Italy, pianist and singer Ji Yung Lee has made appearances at Carnegie Weill Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and the John F. Kennedy Center. She has also captivated audiences via numerous radio broadcasts including WQXR, MPR and WFMT. She recently joined Victory Hall Opera as its first official pianist-in-residence, with the title of Chief Repetiteur. Ji Yung currently serves both as an opera coach and a staff pianist at New England Conservatory in Boston, MA.
Recent highlights include a new opera Fat Pig at Victory Hall Opera, Charlottesville, VA; Dame Myra Hess Concert Series live-streamed on Chicago’s Classical Music Radio WFMT with violist Jordan Bak, Chicago, IL; inaugural concerts at Amelia Island Opera, Fernandina Beach, FL; Die Dreigroschenoper at Korea Chamber Opera Festival, Seoul, Korea; New York Classical Music Radio WQXR’s Live Christmas Concert with tenor Andrew Staples and Trumpetist Paul Merkelo at The Greene Space, New York, NY; Minnesota Public Radio’s Performance Today, St. Paul, MN..
Ji Yung participated in Hawaii Performing Arts Festival in 2020 (virtual) and 2019 as a professional fellow. She served as the principal pianist of The Tragedy of Carmen and the orchestral pianist of Company. As a vocal piano fellowship recipient, she has attended other major music festivals in the United States such as SongFest in LA in 2018, Music Academy of the West in 2016, and Aspen Music Festival and School in 2014. At the SongFest, she received The Marc and Eva Stern – LA Opera Professional Fellowship. At the Music Academy of the West, she served both as a rehearsal pianist and chorus member in Smetana’s opera The Bartered Bride.
Ji Yung appeared at various masterclasses led by internationally recognized musicians such as Joyce DiDonato, Julius Drake, Thomas Hampson, Marilyn Horne, Martin Katz, Robert McDonald, and Roger Vignoles.
“Showing off the beauty of her musical maturity” (The Korea Economic Daily), Ji Yung was also cast in various musicals from 2010-2012 in South Korea. One production in which she performed, Moby Dick, was the first musical staged in Korea where the actors played their own instruments while acting, singing and dancing. Ms. Lee portrayed sea nymph Nereid symbolizing the mother of nature. One critic dubbed her “A magnificent voice” (The Daily Sport Seoul). Ji Yung Lee also premiered excerpts from new musicals in Korea. Other roles performed include: Sandy in Grease and multiple roles in Our Town.
Ji Yung received her Graduate Diploma from The Juilliard School, studying collaborative piano with Margo Garrett, Jonathan Feldman, Diane Richardson, and J. J. Penna. She also studied voice with Cynthia Hoffmann as secondary study. During her study, she had various recitals including one where she performed in both as a pianist and singer, playing J. Brahms’ Vier Ernste Gesänge and R. Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -leben, and singing R. Strauss’ Mädchenblumen.
Ji Yung received her Master’s Degree and Graduate Diploma in collaborative piano with academic honors at New England Conservatory, studying with Cameron Stowe and Jonathan Feldman. She performed Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen and Poulenc’s Dialogues de Carmelites as an orchestral pianist for Graduate Opera Studies. As an opera coach and a pianist for Undergraduate Opera Studies, she also performed Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and the opera scene programs. She performed with NEC Percussion Ensemble as a guest artist under the baton of Frank Epstein.